Police were today resuming their search of woodland for the remains of a man believed to have been murdered.

Detectives think Jason Martin-Smith was shot dead, but his body has never been found.

Officers spent yesterday searching a Sussex wood using five German shepherd dogs, trained to find human remains.

Murder squad detectives received a tip-off that Mr Martin-Smith, 28, formerly of Camberley, Surrey, had been killed in Hastings last summer.

His suspected death is being linked to the drive-by shooting of father of three Jimmy Millen, 27, shot four times as he worked on his car in Hastings last October.

Police closed off an area of Kelk Wood in Battle, opposite Claverham Community College, while search teams went to work.

Scenes-of-crime officers, forensic archaeologists and Battle police officers expect the search to end today.

Detectives have revealed Mr Martin-Smith and Mr Millen were acquaintances.

But they say a climate of fear in Hollington, Hastings, is holding the investigation back, despite a reward leading to the conviction of Mr Millen's killers being increased to £25,000.