THE man who discovered Beata Bryl's burning body thought he had come across a dummy or mannequin at first, her inquest heard.

John Leonard Deacon stopped in a layby for "a call of nature" around 12.50pm on July 29 last year. The inquest, held at Amersham Coroner's Court on Wednesday, heard he had only walked around five yards into the wood when he noticed something.

He said: "I saw some smoke or some mist across to my left.

"As I walked across I thought I was looking at a dummy, a mannequin. As I got closer I saw it was a human being and as I looked at it down towards the feet, it crackled, sparked, and some smoke came off it."

Mr Deacon said the body was extremely burnt and he got back into his car to look for a phone box.

But just 100 yards down the road a driver came towards him and the pair went to the scene where they called police with a mobile.

Detective Constable Madeleine Stewart told a press conference, held after the inquest, that Miss Bryl came to England in 2003 from the Polish mining town of Gliwice.

She initially visited Germany where she worked as a waitress, a model, and in photography.

She stayed with her boyfriend and took English classes and worked as a waitress while in London.

DC Stewart said: "She came for a better life. She came to Europe to earn more money. It was exciting, it was fun."

The couple split up 18 months after Miss Bryl arrived but she had a number of other boyfriends afterwards.

DI Colin Seaton said: "During our ongoing enquiry we have arrested 13 people including persons who were closely associated with Miss Bryl."

It is believed she was suffering from a mental illness and was "extremely vulnerable".