A member of the public alerted police at around 2:30pm after hearing a gun shot coming from a house on Main Road South.

The dead man has not been officially identified but is believed to be Cecil Cutler and the incident is thought to have happened in his home.

Neighbours who live near the house said they did not know what had happened just that several police cars and ambulance staff were on the scene for several hours on Sunday afternoon.

Passing motorist, Rita Knowles from Berkhamsted, said: "Driving into the village we noticed around four police cars parked off-road opposite the house and there were a number of officers walking around with clipboards.

"We thought it must be a village function but were surprised on our return at 8:30pm to see officers were still there."

Alan Mead who owns Munns, the village shop, and has lived in Dagnall for 45 years, said he had known Mr Cutler all that time.

Mr Mead said: "I didn't know him that well and I haven't seen him for the past year, but he was a nice man to speak to when I did see him."

Buckinghamshire police spokeswoman, Sarah Clarke, said the incident was not being treated as suspicious.

The coroner for Buckinghamshire North, Malcolm Stevens, said: "I can confirm a man of that age was bought to Stoke Mandeville mortuary as a result of a gun shot on Sunday."

The case was referred to the coroner and a postmortem was due to be carried out yesterday (Tues 15).