Members of a family devastated by the deaths of a mother and daughter in a house fire have spoken of their grief.

Tributes to Sally-Ann Baxter-Smith, 38, and her daughter Lois, 14, were made as police released without charge a man they had arrested on suspicion of murder.

The pair died in hospital after being dragged unconscious from their burning home in Beach Road, Eastbourne, by firefighters early on Saturday.

Lois's 12-year-old sister and a boy of nine who was staying the night jumped to safety from an upstairs window, escaping with minor injuries.

Police say the fire started at about 5.25am. Officers arrested a 35-year-old man at an address in the town later that evening.

He had been detained for around 72 hours and questioned before being freed last night.

The news came as a statement from Ms Baxter-Smith's family was released.

It said: "The entire family is slowly coming to terms with the loss of two wonderful people following Saturday's devastating fire.

"Sally-Ann was one of the most warm and intelligent people you could ever wish to meet. She'd help anyone and adored her four children.

"Lois, though very young, had all the qualities to become a strong young woman. She had much love to give and had a heart of gold.

"Their loss is devastating to the whole family and all our friends.

"The good wishes, flowers and personal tributes have been flooding into us since Saturday morning. We're grateful to everyone for their support and thoughts.

"We're also grateful to the whole of Green Watch for their gallant efforts on Saturday morning and pay particular thanks to Firefighter Graham Leman, to Justin Stow and to PC Andy Pescott."

Police today renewed their appeal for help, urging people who saw anything suspicious in the Beach Road area on Saturday morning to come forward.

Detective Chief Inspector Tony O'Donnell, of Sussex Police's major crime branch, said the exact cause of the fire had not been found and it could have been an accident.

Mr O'Donnell said: "We have released a man who was helping us with our inquiry and I'd stress that this man is in no way related to Sally-Ann.

"At this stage, we are having difficulty establishing the exact cause of the fire, whether it was started deliberately or if it was a tragic accident.

"Our inquiries are continuing to try to work out exactly what happened.

"Until we can explain the cause more fully, we are approaching this investigation with an open mind and we will explore all possibilities.

"The death of a mother and daughter is quite clearly a great tragedy. Their family will have great difficulty coming to terms with what happened.

"Our inquiry continues and we have a team of detectives who are continuing to work on this inquiry.

"We really need people who were in Beach Road between 1am and 5.30am on Saturday to contact us, particularly if they saw anyone or anything suspicious."

Anyone with information should call police on 0845 6070999 or Crimestoppers anonymously and free on 0800 555111.