Sussex Police are to travel to Cambodia to investigate the disappearance of a backpacker two years ago.

Four officers from the force will spend ten days in the capital Phnom Penh next month working alongside the Cambodian National Police on the case of Eddie Gibson.

The 21-year-old, from Hove, was three weeks into a combined Asian and Pacific studies and international management course at Leeds University when he decided to leave and travel to Cambodia.

Two weeks later, on October 24, 2004, he sent his mother Jo an email saying he was "really looking forward to coming home".

But the message was the last his family heard from him. When they went to meet him off a flight that left Bangkok, Thailand, on November 1, he didn't turn up.

The last reported sighting of him was in Phnom Penh on October 23 by Ami, a Cambodian girl with whom he had a holiday romance.

Sussex Police said officers from the major crime branch had been invited to interview the last people Eddie was in contact with.

His father Mike welcomed the announcement.

Mr Gibson, 59, a corporate financier, said: "This is a positive step forward because the British police have an enviable reputation in expertise.

"We still have some hope but that hope is diminishing fast because he has made no contact and there is no reason why he shouldn't.