A DEAD man found in the foyer of a Wirral police station could have been lying there for several hours, it was revealed last night.

Officers found the body of the man, aged around 40, in the enquiry office of Birkenhead Police station at 7am yesterday morning.

Paramedics confirmed the man, thought to be a local homeless man, was dead at the scene and the station on Mortimer Street was sealed off yesterday morning while an investigation was launched.

Well-placed sources have told the Daily Post the man had been in the office for several hours before anyone realised he was dead.

Last night a spokesman for Merseyside Police said the man was found collapsed and his death was being treated by investigators as "unexplained".

He said the investigation remained at an "early stage". When asked whether the man could have been there for up to six hours before officers realised, he insisted there was "evidence to the contrary".

The spokesman said: "I’m told he was seen alive in that time."

A post mortem was due to be carried out yesterday afternoon, with the investigation team to meet this morning to discuss the case.

The case had been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission who yesterday said they had referred it back to the Merseyside force and the IPCC "had no concerns in terms of police involvement".

Last night the station enquiry office had been cleaned and was reopened to the public.

A MAN in his 40s was found dead in a car park in Liverpool city centre yesterday morning.

NCP stewards alerted police at about 8.30am at the Bixteth Street car park behind the Mercury Court building on Tithebarn Street.

Police sealed off the car park and interviewed drivers as they tried to leave.

A post mortem was arranged last night to ascertain how the lone male died.

Nicci Lothian, a family lawyer based in Mercury Court, said: "This road is very busy, and normally there is very little trouble here."