Name that… flying insect?

A bit of an irregular post this one… but I we need some help.

One of our readers sadly encountered this dead creature in the middle of Exeter… Unfortunately all we have to go on is a picture from a mobile phone, captured on another mobile phone.

Unidentified insect

The details:

  • between 5-8 inches long
  • The lighter parts at the bottom were wings (it looks to me like there might be 2 sets of 2 there)
  • the cluster of darker bits at the top were all legs. To me that means it fits the normal dragonfly morphology (based on my expertise in assumptions arising from Wikipedia)
  • the yellow patches were apparently much brighter in real life
  • the road it was lying on was not particular near any water
  • it was not a hornet

Any suggestions would be welcomed, provided they weren’t things like “stop taking pictures with 2 mobile phones” and “stop using Wikipedia and pretending you know stuff”.

Thanks!