LONDON A boy's torso has been found in the river Thames in london, Reuters quoted police as saying on Sunday.

The child's body was spotted by a passer-by near Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in central London and recovered by police, a police statement said.

"A postmortem was held...and the cause of death was given as a violent trauma to the neck area," the statement said.

A sharp-bladed instrument had been used to dismember the youngster's body.

As part of the murder investigation, officers were checking lists of missing children in a bid to identify the boy.