The mother of a Sussex woman found drowned in Australia has been told she may have been murdered.

A coroner in New South Wales has recorded an open verdict on Angela Read, whose body was discovered in the Hastings River in Western Australia two years ago.

The finding has led to renewed calls for a full police investigation into her death.

State coroner John Abernethy said it was "highly unlikely" she took her own life or drowned accidentally.

Angela's mother Pat Tompkins, of Chichester Drive East, Saltdean, has fought a two-year battle to convince police her daughter did not kill herself.

Ms Tompkins travelled to Port Macquarie last December and finally won the right to a formal inquest, with backing from Brighton Kemp Town MP Des Turner.

Ms Tompkins, 59, unearthed photos apparently showing bruises to Angela's jaw and lips, a broken nose and finger-marks around her neck.

Mother-of-two Angela, 34, went missing on April 5 2000 from her camper van home in Port Macquarie, 250 miles north of Sydney.

A caravan park resident spotted her body floating among boats on April 7.

A government pathologist who carried out a post-mortem examination concluded there were no suspicious circumstances.

Angela's body was cremated five days after it was found. Contrary to police and the coroner's instructions, a forensic pathologist did not conduct a full autopsy.

Ms Tompkins refused to believe her lively artist daughter, whose children Rosabella, five, and Shaun, three, are now living with their father in Bath, had killed herself.

She told us in September: "There's no way she would leave those two children, who she adored."

Ms Tompkins attended the four-day inquest at Wauchope, and was in court yesterday to hear Mr Abernethy's finding that Angela died by asphyxia due to drowning.

He said: "I cannot say whether Angela Read met with foul play, whether she took her own life or whether she died accidentally, perhaps taking a swim in the Hastings River.

"Frankly, of these three possibilities, to me, accident appears the least likely."

He added that after hearing evidence from family friends and associates, it was also "highly unlikely" she would have taken her own life.

Mr Abernethy apologised to Ms Tompkins for having to record an open verdict, as the evidence did not determine exactly how Angela died.

Although he did not agree with Ms Tompkins that police and coroners had been negligent, he issued two recommendations to police commissioner Ken Maroney.

The first was a reminder to police to forward all cases of suspicious death to Sydney or Newcastle for autopsy.

The second was that suicide should not be presumed.

Mr Abernethy said there was a need to establish evidence which would prove or disprove suicide.

Mr Turner said today: "An open verdict is not quite what Ms Tompkins was hoping for, and I imagine she is fairly disappointed.

"But it still means there can be further investigations, and it's a testament to her determination to have got this far.

"The coroner is absolutely right in his recommendations to the police. It's now down to the state attorney and the police to take action."