A woman was found dead in the sea.

Lifeboat crews were called to the coast off Peacehaven at about midday to reports of a  person in the water.

Volunteers from Newhaven RNLI  found the body of a woman floating dead in the water.

A spokesman for the RNLI said: "Newhaven’s Severn Class lifeboat  volunteer crew were paged to launch following reports from walkers on the promenade at Peacehaven of a possible person in the water about 50m from the shore.

"Police and HM Coastguard also attended the location. The lifeboat launched at 12:10pm and arrived on scene at 12:23pm.
"The lifeboat crew recovered the body of a female from the water."

Sussex Police said last night that an inquiry had been opened to discover how the woman had died.

They added that there were no suspicious circumstances at this stage.