Human remains thought to be those of a former Cardinal Newman and BHASVIC pupil who went missing ten years ago have been found.

Eddie Gibson, 19, of Hove, vanished while backpacking in Cambodia in October 2004.

Now bones found in a dried up lake near the Cambodian border with Thailand are being analysed to check if they could be Eddie's.

Update: Police say the remains do not belong to Mr Gibson. Click here for more. 

His parents Mike Gibson and Jo Gibson-Clark have always feared he had been killed.

Mr Gibson told The Argus last night: “The police have found some bones buried in Poipet near the Thai border.

“It sounds strange but we hope it is Eddie. We know he's not alive and to find his body would allow us to properly say goodbye and give him a proper burial.

“The area is now being treated as a proper crime scene.”

Mr Gibson said the remains of a European male with a broken arm were discovered by Cambodian police near Poipet. Eddie had a broken arm when he disappeared.

The bones were found by border police and Cambodian officials have now also discovered the insole of a size ten shoe and a pair of Calvin Klein underpants - both of which Mr Gibson said he usually wore - at the scene.

If investigators conclude the bones could be Eddie's they will be passed to the British Embassy who will then carry out DNA tests and dental record checks to try to prove if the bones are Eddie's.

The Foreign Office and Sussex Police have now been informed of the discovery.

But his parents were resigned to the fear that after staying in the slums of Phnom Penh he may have become caught up with a gang and murdered for his money.

Former BHASVIC and Cardinal Newman pupil Eddie went travelling in Cambodia on his gap year in 2003 and is thought to have met a woman.

He then returned home and started a degree at Leeds University.

But a few weeks later he dropped out and flew back to Bangkok. He is known to have travelled via the border town of Poipet, into Cambodia and to Phnom Penh.

Two weeks after returning to Cambodia, Eddie, emailed his mother to ask his parents to pick him up from Heathrow airport - but he never arrived.

Since then his family have desperately searched for clues to his whereabouts.

A team of four detectives from Sussex Police's Major Crime Branch travelled to Cambodia in 2006 to help with the search but found nothing.

The Gibson family also hired private detectives to help in the search.

Last year, they said they had been told by a businessman that Eddie had been murdered for money.

He said it was believed Eddie was bludgeoned to death with a shovel and robbed of £2,000 to £3,000 cash he had on him.

Detective Chief Inspector Jeff Riley of Sussex Police said: "We are aware of the finding of human remains in Cambodia that are currently being examined to see if they could belong to Eddie Gibson.

"We are continuing to support the Gibson family, as we have since Eddie went missing, and will help them and the Cambodia authorities through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in any way we can to find out what has happened to him."