THE body of a man was discovered lying in a busy alleyway in Dartford town centre on Monday morning.

Kent Police officers were called to Spital Street at 10.31am where they discovered the man’s body in an alleyway next Gala Bingo, which leads to Sainsbury's car park.

Uniformed officers guarded the scene adjacent to the Flying Boat Wetherspoon’s pub, while forensic officers launched an investigation into the unexplained death.

Neighbour Sian Oakes, 17, who lives behind the car park described the discovery as “scary” and said she is now thinking about moving.

The North West Kent College student told News Shopper: “It’s horrible. It is really scary to think three months ago someone was shot in Dartford, it is getting gradually worse.

“I said to my mum I don’t want to live here anymore. It used to be alright.

“I use the alleyway all the time but I didn’t hear anything last night - it was just a normal night.

“We would hear people from the pub going past and shouting but nothing out of the ordinary.”

Miss Oakes, who has lived in the flat for four years, said police were at the scene when she woke up this morning.

She said: “I woke up at 11am and I saw police talking in the alleyway. I got up and looked out and the gate was shut and it was all cornered off and they had police tape over where the incident happened.

“I could hear what they were saying. They said they needed to get forensics down so we knew it was someone getting hurt.

“The forensics turned up about half an hour later, about four of them. They cordoned part of the alley near Sainsbury’s.

“They took the body away maybe half an hour or ten minutes before I woke up.

“There are a couple of local alcoholics who hang around the park and live in that area and they do sleep in that area where it happened.”

Shopkeeper Lynda Nguyen, 33, who works in Spital Street, added: “I've lived here for 12 years and it has been fine, but now there's always shootings and stabbings.

"Dartford is usually a safe place but recently silly things have been happening.”

Kent Police confirmed an investigation has been launched.

A post-mortem examination was due to be carried out on Tuesday and police are awaiting the results.