Mystery over trussed-up body

The identity of a man whose trussed-up body was found at Beachy Head, Britain, remained a mystery as UK police continued their efforts to identify him.

UK police launched a murder investigation yesterday after one of three bodies recovered from the base of cliffs at the notorious suicide spot near Eastbourne, East Sussex, was found with stab wounds.

His hands and feet had been bound with tape and a plastic bag was over his head, Sussex Police said.

He was in his early 30s, around 5ft 8ins and had a full "Afro" hairstyle with full black beard.

The spokesman said: "Operation Dundee has been set up to investigate the murder. We urgently need to identify this man and would ask anyone with information to contact us."

A UK Home Office pathologist was called in to perform an autopsy, he added.

Police would not confirm of deny reports that the murdered man may have been inside a barrel which could have been hurled overboard a passing ship. Officers believe the other bodies entered the water at different times because all three displayed varying degrees of decomposition.

There was currently nothing to link the bound body with the other two and work was continuing to identify them, the spokesman said.

The bodies may have been washed up due to particularly heavy weather over the preceding few days, police said.

Sussex Police and coastguard teams had been working since yesterday morning to recover the bodies which were first spotted on rocks by a British police helicopter on Friday. There were originally thought to be four, but later it emerged that one body had broken up.