The mother of a teenager who was killed on a motorway after a wedding party row with his father made a desperate call to police seconds before he died.

Tributes have been pouring in for popular Scott Turner, 15, who died after attempting to cross the M23 in Crawley in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The teenager from South Way, Burgess Hill, was struck by at least five vehicles including an unmarked police car, an ambulance and a lorry.

Because of the involvement of a police vehicle it was referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) as part of standard procedure.

A spokeswoman for the IPCC has today said: “The assessment has found that Scott’s mother called police to report him missing at 1.46am.

“At 1.49am, police received calls from two separate motorists stating that they had hit a pedestrian on the M23.

“At 1.57am, an ambulance, which had been to another accident and was taking people to hospital, reported that they also believed they had collided with a body.

“An unmarked police car, which was following the ambulance, is also believed to have collided with the body.”

IPCC Commissioner for the south east Mike Franklin said: “This is a terrible incident and I cannot begin to imagine what Scott’s family is going through at the moment. The police are investigating the collision and I would urge anybody who witnessed the incident to contact them so that they can establish exactly what happened and why.

“We have looked specifically at whether the police car involved in the collision could have played any part in Scott’s death. Having examined the various timings involved and looked at the information provided by road collision experts who went to the scene, it appears that Scott had already died by the time the police car became involved.

“If any new information comes to light which suggests that officers could have prevented the collision then it should be re-referred to the IPCC but, based on the evidence available at the moment, I am content to allow Sussex police to take their investigation forward without further input from us.”