A man convicted of killing a child 33 years ago may be questioned about the deaths of three Sussex children.

Sussex Police are liaising with colleagues in Surrey, where 14-year-old schoolboy Roy Tutill was sexually assaulted and killed in 1968.

Farm labourer Brian Field was jailed for life at the Old Bailey last week after his DNA tests proved he strangled the boy.

Police forces around the UK now re-examining hundreds of sex crimes and reports of missing children to see if they are linked to Field.

Sussex Police are looking at three including one involving another 14-year-old schoolboy who was found dead more than 34 years ago in Brighton.

Michael Trower's skeleton was discovered in a shallow grave at Waterhall on the outskirts of the city in 1967.

The two others are: 12-year-old Keith Lyon, who was stabbed to death on downland at Woodingdean, Brighton, in 1967; and Vishal Mehrotra, an eight-year-old boy whose skull and rib bones were discovered in 1982 by pigeon shooters in remote marshland near Midhurst.

No DNA samples exist to test against Field's profile but Sussex Police are still interested in questioning him.

Detective Superintendent Dave Gaylor, who heads a task force investigating unsolved murders, said: "Field's murder happened just a few miles outside Sussex, he worked for the Milk Marketing Board and travelled around a lot.

"His victim was 14 and we have three unsolved cases involving children of similar ages. We are liaising with Surrey Police to see where Field was at the times of the Sussex deaths.

"Interviewing him may well be an option for us in the future."

Of the three Sussex cases, the Trower case is the one interesting Sussex detectives the most.

Mr Gaylor said: "The boy played truant a lot and failed to turn up at school when he went missing in 1966. His remains were found in January the following year.

"He had a large skull fracture but it was impossible to determine whether he had been sexually assaulted.

"That said, it was known Michael frequented amusement arcades and piers and he associated with known paedophiles."

Children were always suspected of the stabbing death of Keith Lyon.

Vishal Mehrotra vanished from his home in Putney, London, while shopping with his nanny and sister shortly after watching TV coverage of the wedding of the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1981.

Police in London launched a major hunt for the Indian boy, searching wasteland and asking residents to check outbuildings and gardens.

His body was discovered six months later at Durford Abbey Farm, Rogate, near Midhurst.

Field was arrested this year after his DNA profile was taken when police in the West Midlands stopped him for drink-driving. The 65-year-old, of Rowood Drive, Solihull, pleaded guilty to murder.