THE brother of a man who died in the September 11 terror attacks has relieved the "devastating and exhausting" events which followed that infamous day.

Matt Campbell, 52, recalled the moment he found out his brother Geoff had been killed, while at a conference on the 106th floor of the North Tower.

The 31-year-old, who worked as a management consultant for Reuters, sent him an email that morning saying he was on his way to the event - but was running late.

But Matt did not receive it at the time because he was on holiday in Lanzarote with his family.

The dad-of-three said: "I remember, we were on the beach and my wife had taken my youngest on a walk in her pram because she wouldn't settle. She took her up to the road where all the cafes and bars were, she noticed that people were clustered around the TVs that were there - she saw that something had happened in New York and she was worried about Geoff.

The Argus: Pictured: Rob, Maureen, Geoff and Matt Campbell.

"Initially, I wasn't that concerned because Reuters were based in Mid Town not Lower Manhattan where the towers were.

"I wasn't panicking but I went up to the TVs and definitely one of the towers had collapsed and it was like a hazy picture. I was just like oh god what the hell has happened."

Matt, who was living in Hassocks at the time, made phone calls to try and find out if his brother was safe.

His youngest brother Rob told him Geoff had left for a conference at the World Trade Centre at around 8.15am and no one had heard from him since.

"I just remember dropping the payphone when he told me. I just dropped it. I was in shock," he said.

"It was just complete mayhem in the days after. We obviously hadn't had it confirmed that he was even dead at that point. We had spoken with Reuters and were trying to gain as much information as possible.

"When we got back to the UK on the Thursday night, I think that was the first time I actually allowed myself to cry. I was devastated."

The Argus: Geoff and his fiancee Caroline.

Reuters arranged flights for Geoff's family to go to New York on the Saturday morning to look for him.

They hoped they would find him after reading in a tabloid newspaper that some victims had not yet been identified and were unconscious in hospital.

"We quickly learned that this wasn't true and that anyone in hospital had actually been accounted for, even if they were in a bad way, someone knew who they were," Matt said.

"It was a bonkers week, we went down to Ground Zero as well and the firefighters and police were amazing considering how many people had died

"We went to a service for British families, Blair was there, Rob even got a hug from Bill Clinton. There was a whole bunch of high profile people there.

After spending a week in New York, the family returned home and organised a wake for Geoff in Northampton, where the family are originally from.

The Argus: Geoff was 31 when he died in the North Tower on the 11th of September 2001.

Matt, who now lives in Hurstpierpoint, said: "We thought it was the right thing to do, even though we didn't have a body or any remains, we thought he deserved a memorial of some kind.

"It was amazing, we had people there from all walks of Geoff's life. Some of his school teachers, the CEO of Reuters even came with his wife in the evening."

Geoff was lost under the rubble of the twin towers until June 2002 when part of his remains were eventually found 20-40 metres outside of the footprint of the North Tower.

This was identified through DNA matching with Geoff's parents, Maureen and Malcolm, providing his hairbrush and other items to help identify him.

Matt said: "It was his collar bone. For my mum it had great significance because as a toddler Geoff had broken his collar bone. She took it as a sign from him.

"We didn't know what to do with him at that point. Then, in 2004, we received another few bone fragments that were repatriated back to the UK. We decided to have a burial for him at the local church, which is where he is now."

The Argus: Geoff and his two brothers.

The inquest into Geoff's death in 2013 found that he died as a result of the Flight 11 crashing into the north face of the North Tower between floors 93 and 99 causing it to collapse.

However, Matt and his family believe that is not the case and it was caused by internal explosives.

Matt, his father Malcolm, Maureen, Rob and Geoff's fiancee Caroline have all signed a 3,000 page application for a fresh inquest into his death which has gone to the Attorney General.

Today, the 20th anniversary of Geoff's death, both Rob and Maureen will be travelling up to London for a memorial service, while Malcolm will be hiking in the mountains and Matt is "switching off" by going on a retreat.

Matt fondly remembers his brother as "the good looking Campbell brother" and said he was an intelligent man who had a way of telling stories that made you laugh every time, no matter how many times he repeated it.