A Sussex detective was preparing to travel to Belgium to join the search for a best man who disappeared while on a stag night.

Fears were growing advertising rep Ian Gilbert, from Crowborough, may have drowned or been mugged on his way back to his hotel in Ostend in the early hours of Saturday.

Friends of missing Ian Gilbert have travelled to France to hand out posters.

They are pasting pictures of Mr Gilbert, 25, at all major ports including Calais and Dieppe.

The rugby club team-mates were hoping travellers returning to England might recognise him.

Mr Gilbert, who has not been seen since 4am on Saturday, helped organise the stag night in the harbour town for groom Mark Rosier, 27. Two of Mr Gilbert's friends remained in Ostend to hand out missing person posters carrying his picture.

Sussex Police have appointed a family liaison officer to counsel Mr Gilbert's distraught wife Charlotte and her two children. The couple married just a year ago.

A Sussex Police spokesman said: "The fact we are sending a senior detective to Belgium to help co-ordinate the search and have appointed a family liaison officer shows how seriously we and the Belgian police are taking Mr Gilbert's disappearance. We are giving the Belgian authorities our full support."

Members of the 25-strong stag party, all members of Crowborough Rugby Club, recall seeing Mr Gilbert leave a bar at 2am for the walk back to the hotel along a route that took in the seafront.

It was feared Mr Gilbert may have slipped accidentally into the sea and drowned or may even have been attacked.

His friends, who say it is totally out of character for family-man Mr Gilbert to disappear without notice, at first thought he may have fallen asleep on the way back to the hotel but raised the alarm when he failed to appear by the following lunchtime.

An appeal was carried on Belgian television and friends have offered a £5,000 reward for information.