The scientist found dismembered inside a suitcase in Colombia may have been lured into a trap, police fear.

Alessandro Coatti, a 42-year-old Italian national who worked in London, went missing on April 4 while visiting the coastal city of Santa Marta.

His severed limbs and head were discovered inside a suitcase by a group of children near a football stadium two days later.

Police found his mutilated torso in a black bag dumped in a stretch of the Manzanares River a day after that.

The city’s mayor has offered a £10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Mr Coatti’s killers.

The brutality of the murder has perplexed investigating authorities, who say there is no evidence to suggest that Mr Coatti, a former senior policy officer with the Royal Society of Biology (RSB), was involved in any criminality.

Detectives are exploring whether Mr Coatti was lured into a trap, possibly with the help of a woman.

He was last heard of making enquiries with hotel staff about routes into Minca, a mountainous jungle region approximately 20 kilometres from the city, where he wanted to study tropical flora and fauna.