Three years after his son was found dead at the foot of cliffs his father says he is still tormented by unanswered questions.

Lee Wescott, 20, was found in a rock pool at Saltdean in April 1999.

He had been missing from home for just over a week.

A coroner recorded an open verdict at the inquest because while forensic evidence pinpointed the cause of death as drowning, there was no apparent explanation for how he fell into the pool.

Ever since, his father Philip has been trying to fill in the details of his troubled son's last week.

He believes his son was injured, perhaps in a car crash, then his body dumped in an attempt to make the death look like suicide.

He has told Sussex Police of his theory after contacting Brighton Pavilion MP David Lepper. Detectives are considering the issues raised by the case but have not yet agreed to formally re-open the case.

Mr Wescott, 40, of Upper Shoreham Road, split from Lee's mother when Lee was a child.

He had grown up with her in Redhill, Surrey, but came to stay with his father in Brighton while he completed a university year in industry.

It appears Lee had been weighed down with money worries and was working in a restaurant in the evenings to make ends meet.

He was having sessions with a counsellor but there was nothing that suggested to his father he was suicidal.

On the day Lee disappeared, Mr Wescott went into his room in the morning to find his bed empty.

He received an answerphone message from Lee telling him he would be staying with his grandmother in Bevendean for few days.

Lee assured him he was all right.

However, when he did not return, Mr Wescott called Lee's mother, who reported him missing to the police on April 12.

Lee's body was found nine days later.

When Mr Wescott visited Lee in the morgue he noticed injuries down the left side of his body.

He said: "I thought he was beaten up. He had a big fat lip, bruises on the side of his face, an egg-shape bruise on his eye. His left leg was broken as was his hip."

He said the injuries were not reported in the post mortem at the inquest except for the broken hip and leg. The inquest heard they were broken before his death.

There were no injuries consistent with those sustained from a fall.

Mr Wescott said: "I do not think he committed suicide. I think he was put into the water by somebody else. The facts suggest that.

"When they did the post mortem they found no evidence of alcohol or drugs in his blood.

"All of these injuries down one side suggest to me he was hit by a car."

Mr Wescott, who has two sons from a previous relationship, Ryan, 11, and Bradly, 16, said in the past three years he has been back and forth to the police and coroner's office to find out how his son met his death.

Mr Wescott, a recruitment consultant, said he has been unable to move on with his life.

He said: "It does not matter how much I try to move on I can't.

"My financial circumstances have suffered, my children have suffered. They want to know.

"Lee was very popular and loved by everybody in his family.

"Even though we had a funeral, because of the open verdict we can't set him to rest."