Detectives investigating the discovery of a woman's body at the bottom of a chalk pit are considering the possibility she could have been pushed to her death.

A team of forensic officers spent all day yesterday scouring the area where the remains were found, in the hope of piecing together exactly how she met her death.

And while detectives say it remains possible that the woman, in her 20s, killed herself by leaping off the 75ft cliff, they have also not ruled out foul play.

One theory being given serious consideration is that the woman met her death after being pushed from the cliff top.

A post mortem examination of the body was being carried out tonight to establish the cause of death and officers said they were not yet sure why she died.

A Sussex Police spokesman said: "It is unexplained at the moment, officers are keeping an open mind."

The alarm was raised on Sunday afternoon after a walker found the body partially hidden in loose scrubland at the base of the cliff to the rear of the Chalk Pit Inn, Offham Lane, Lewes.

Officers spent much of Sunday night at the scene and conducted daylight searches both at the cliff top and at the base of the pit yesterday.

A tent covered the body until it was removed from the scene this afternoon.

The position the woman was found in, very close to the base of the cliff, suggested she had fallen from the top.

However the spot is not an obvious suicide spot, given its height and the proximity of other more well known suicide locations.

Locals claim at least one person had plunged from the top of the cliff by accident in the past and survived. There is no fence of other type of protective barrier at the top.

Emma Heath, the landlady of the Chalk Pit Inn called the police after her father-in-law was told about the body on Sunday.

She told The Argus: "A man we know was out walking past the spot and came into us to say there was a body.

"I sent out my father-in-law to check and we called the police straight away.

"We don't know who it is, whether its one of our regulars or not.

"We've got CCTV and we'll be giving that to the police to look at."

Detectives quickly ruled out any chance of the body belonging to Diane Chenery-Wickens, 48, the award-winning BBC make-up artist who vanished from her home, around 15 miles away in Duddleswell, near Crowborough, on January 24.

The police spokesman said investigations at the cliff face were likely to be concluded tonight.