Detectives are convinced the answers to a gruesome unsolved murder lie outside Sussex.

Officers investigating the “Bolney torso” case were last night hoping a high-profile television appeal would generate fresh clues in the 18-year-old mystery Sussex Police exhumed the headless and handless man’s body, which was discovered off Broxmead Lane in October 1991, from a Haywards Heath cemetery in March.

The man has never been identified and it was only after digging him up again that detectives realised they had been basing their investigation on the wrong description ever since the body was found.

Last night they were due to use BBC’s Crimewatch programme to announce the results of a forensic anthropologist’s study of the exhumed body.

Detective Superintendent Andy Griffiths of the force’s major crime branch said: "We now know that the man was white and aged at around mid to late 30s at the time of his death, somewhat younger than the previous estimate of 45-60.

"The opinion of the anthropologist is that he was an active, strong man between 5ft 6in and 5ft 8in.

“His bones showed no signs of degenerative illness and he was well-nourished."