Daniel's body dumped at mining pit

The body of Daniel Morcombe was left exposed to the elements and wild dogs after he was murdered, a Queensland court has heard.

The schoolboy's accused killer Brett Peter Cowan allegedly dumped Daniel's body near a disused sand mining pit on the outskirts of the Sunshine Coast, The Brisbane Times reports.

The court heard that the 13-year-old's killer stripped him of his clothes and threw his body in a nearby creek before covering it with sticks and leaves.

Scientific police officer Sergeant Donna MacGregor said the way Daniel's bones were scattered on the ground when they were located suggested his body had been dumped on the surface.

The officer, who was present when the child's remains were found, said the body would have been "in tact" when it was left at the scene.

"I formed the opinion they had been there for at least five years, but it could be in excess of that period too," she said.

Forensic osteologist Associate Professor Walter Wood examined three of Daniel's bones and said that they had deteriorated significantly.

"The fibula had been partly chewed by possibly a dog or some other carnivore," he told the court.

Daniel Morcombe went missing from a Sunshine Coast bus stop in December 2003.

The search for his remains began in the Glass House Mountains started in August 2011, eights years after he disappeared.

Cowan has been charged with murder, indecently dealing with a child under the age of 16 and improperly dealing with a corpse.

He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The trial continues next week.