One of two women found dead halfway down the 600ft cliff at Beachy Head had been bound and gagged, it emerged today.

But police said this morning they were not treating the deaths as suspicious.

A clifftop rescue team hauled the bodies several hundred feet up the notorious suicide spot, near Eastbourne, on Friday.

A source close to the inquiry into the deaths of the women, spotted on Friday by a member of the public, said he had seen one of the women bound and gagged before the bodies were removed.

But a police spokesman said: "Detectives investigating the discovery of the bodies have ruled out foul play and have confirmed that the two deaths are unrelated."

One of the women was named today as 39-year-old Elizabeth Taylor from Eastbourne. The second woman is expected to be identified in the next few days.

A post-mortem examination will be carried out later this week and an inquest is likely to be opened and adjourned.