Dorchester Arts Centre youth theatre leader Bianca Judd opened the door of a storeroom - and found a body inside.

But it was a case of Hammer House of Horror and not a real life murder that had come to light at the arts venue.

Bianca found the frighteningly lifelike bag of bones as she cleared out years of lumber from a props cupboard.

She said: "It was absolutely full of stuff and I started pulling everything out.

"It all smelt bad and then I saw the skeletal hand and I thought "Oh my god - it's a body".

"It was so realistic. I didn't know what to do at first. I just froze. I really thought it was a real body.

"I wondered whether to call the police but then I made myself calm down and remembered that it was a props cupboard after all."

The lifesize prop - covered in what looks like the remains of skin and connective tissue with black hair still attached to the skull - gave such a convincing performance as a body that several of Bianca's colleagues also believed it was real.

She said: "It turns out that a former youth theatre leader had contacts with Hammer House of Horror and got the body and other props to use in productions.

"I suppose it got put in the cupboard and other things got piled on top and it was just left there."

Her search yielded finds that could come in useful - military shields and boots and a collection of colourful Chinese lanterns - but also a pile of rubbish that will have to be dumped.

She said: "It's a pity because there were some lovely costumes in there but everything was mouldy - that explains why it was so stinky."

Former actress Bianca, who knows the risk of corpsing - a fit of the giggles on stage - said the body would be going back in the props cupboard. She said: "He might be worth some money for the arts centre - you can sell anything on eBay. We're going to keep him for now in case we can use him in another production. But I don't think that'll happen very often."

She added: "I am pleased to have more room in the props cupboard. The youth theatre are putting on a production based on a Polish folk tale for Dorchester Festival at the end of the month so the body will have to share the cupboard with a giant dragon."