BURNLEY teenager Christopher Hartley was a heroin user but police do not know whether the drug killed him, it was revealed today.

Blood tests have been carried out in a bid to discover what killed the 17-year-old, whose dismembered and headless body was found in a waste bin outside a Blackpool hotel.

Police said today they believed Christopher dabbled in the drug rather than being an addict but they were still trying to establish what killed him.

Christopher, who left Burnley to find work at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, had been due to spend New Year with his parents and other members of his family at their home in Helston Close on the Griffin estate.

But instead it was police who knocked on their door to tell them the tragic news.

His family have been devastated by Christopher's death and the way his body was found. His three brothers and two sisters have been looking after their parents and all have been too distraught to talk about the tragedy.

"It is too early, we are trying to come to terms with what has happened,'' said one.

A 60-strong team of police has been busy investigating the death carrying out house to house inquiries in Blackpool and talking to members of his family and friends in both Burnley and Blackpool.

Acting Dep Supt Paul Buschini, who is leading the inquiry, said there had been a good response but that he was still appealing for witnesses and friends of the deceased to come forward with any information which could help their inquiries.

Christopher's naked body was found in a bin at the back of the New Central Hotel, Reads Avenue, Blackpool, early on Tuesday.

The lower part of the torso was in a black Puma sports bag.

He was last seen at about 2am on Tuesday near to his lodgings in Blackpool.

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