IMAGES on a damaged hard drive which show what happened before an historic Sussex pier was set on fire have been recovered.

The pictures will show detectives investigating the blaze at Eastbourne's pier what happened before more than a third of the stucture was destroyed by flames in July last year.

Officers are treating the blaze at the Grade II-listed pier was arson.

Forensic experts were brought in to try to rebuild the damaged hard drives.

Christos Stylianou, general manager of the pier, said the recovered data showed 30 days of footage from 24 cameras around the arcade site.

He described it as a "positive development".

Sussex Police said officers were studying the CCTV images for evidence.

The pier was partially reopened to traders and the public last September after the first stage of reconstruction work was completed.

Its owners have said they hope to reopen the main deck to the public within the next month.

Mr Stylianou said: "We're currently in talks with the local authorities about introducing fairground rides, temporary amusements to make it an attraction and a fun day for families for the 2015 season."