Chopped up money dumped in bins

Police have been left bewildered by the discovery of two cash hoards totalling £10,000 - with the bank notes cut to shreds.

Two large bundles of £10 and £20 notes have been found cut to pieces and dumped in two Lincoln bins. One load was found near the Barge restaurant on the Brayford in Lincoln. The second lump of cash was found in City Square, near the Central Market.

Detective Constable Nick Cobb of Lincolnshire Police said: "I've been with the force for 25 years and I've never dealt with anything like this before.

"We're not necessarily looking at this as a crime, but the amount of cash could have come from the proceeds of a crime.

"As far as I know, you can potentially be reimbursed if you take the money to the bank and can prove that it has been legal tender once, so I would have thought that someone would want to claim the cash."

The bank notes, which had been cut into tiny pieces, have been verified by a local bank as genuine.