A jet skier found a dead body floating in the sea.

Jason Thorne has had trouble sleeping since his grim discovery, half a mile from Worthing Pier, on Sunday.

The stunned 32-year-old called Shoreham lifeboat crews, who recovered the body of a man in his 60s.

Mr Thorne said: “It was such a beautiful day, absolutely perfect.

“Me and my dad had jet-skied over to Brighton and were on our way back to Worthing when I saw something that didn’t look right bobbing up and down in the water.

“I went over to take a look and I realised it was a man.

"It was so shocking."

Leaving his father with the body, Mr Thorne raced back to the pier and alerted a fisherman, who called the police.

Within minutes a helicopter and lifeboat were scrambled to the scene.

Mr Thorne and his father Colin, 55, have hardly slept since their traumatic discovery.

Mr Thorne said: “It’s been playing on our minds and we can’t get it out of our system. It was a lovely day but it turned into a nightmare.”

A spokeswoman for Shoreham RNLI said: “The body of a man recovered by the crew before being transferred to the all-weather lifeboat and taken back to the lifeboat station.

“The body was then transferred to the police and coroner’s officer who were waiting at the boathouse.” A spokeswoman for Sussex Police said the man had not yet been identified.

The circumstances around his death are still unknown, although officers do not believe the incident is suspicious.