The parents of Twin Towers victim Robert Eaton have told how their grief is as raw today as it was five years ago.

Robert was just 37 when he was caught up in the terror attacks in New York on September 11, 2001.

His father Doug said: "Five years seems to have gone very quickly but time does not make it any easier because of the unique nature and scale of the tragedy.

"My son was such a great man in many ways - a great sportsman, son and character who was immensely talented and in the prime of his life.

"For that to be suddenly stopped is a tragedy beyond anyone's imagining."

Robert, a former Brighton College pupil and St Paul's Cathedral chorister, was working for stockbroking firm Cantor Fitzgerald on the 105th floor of the World Trade Centre when the terrorists struck.

Doug and his wife Laura, from Ditchling, will sit with their heads bowed alongside Robert's elder sisters Angela, Barbara and Judy in a tranquil rose garden to mark the fifth anniversary of his death today.

The ceremony, in the September 11 memorial garden in Grosvenor Square, London, will be attended by families of the 67 Britons killed in the attacks.

Doug said: "It will be an intimate gathering by invitation only.

"We have no grave to visit so this is a chance for us to be together and to remember Robert and the others that died."

Afterwards they will lay a single rose in St Paul's Cathedral, where a plaque to Robert was dedicated in 2004.

In all 3,016 people were killed in the attacks, sparking the US-led War on Terror. There have been terrorist atrocities in Madrid, Bali, Sharm el-Sheikh and London since.

Doug said: "It was clearly the beginning of a whole range of terrorist activities.

"They seem such a terrible waste of life for no good purpose at all."

The Eatons say they are constantly reminded of their son and the many happy years they spent together.

Doug told The Argus: "Something will occasionally stir my memory of long-forgotten things that happened when he was a child.

"They are memories I value a great deal, of the happiest years of our lives."

The one source of comfort for the Eatons is the memorial fund set up by Robert's fellow Brighton and Hove Albion fans in the wake of the tragedy.

The fund holds an annual football match between rival Albion and Crystal Palace supporters and a number of other money-raising events.

More than £40,000 has been raised in five years, the cash used to support youth football initiatives.

A club for underprivileged Hispanic children in New York has benefited from funding while five Sussex football clubs have also received support.

Recently the fund donated kit to a club in Croydon in recog- nition of the help and support of Crystal Palace fans.

Mr Eaton said: "The fund is something Robert would have been very proud of. He would have been thrilled to think that his legacy was to help children play football."

Fund chairman Gareth Glover said: "What better way to honour Robert's memory than giving pleasure to hundreds of children who may not have had the opportunity to play football?

"It just shows what can be achieved as a beacon of light from such a terrible tragedy."

Robert lived with his wife Jacqui in Long Island, New York. His widow has since remarried but Mr and Mrs Eaton keep in touch.

Firefighters across Sussex will this morning remember their American colleagues who died in 9/11, observing a minute's silence.

West Sussex Fire and Rescue spokesman Gary Towson said: "It's a poignant reminder to firefighters serving at the time.

"Since then the world has changed and unfortunately the job has changed so we have to be alert and prepared for something like that to happen again, although we hope it does not."