This is the first picture issued since her death of teenage Bexhill bank clerk Rae Torbet, the daughter of a senior Sussex policeman.

It was released to The Argus today as tributes continued to the 19-year-old found with knife wounds at her flat.

She was discovered in Cantelupe Road, Bexhill, by a colleague from the HSBC bank in Hailsham after she failed to show for work.

Repeated telephone calls went unanswered before the colleague visited Miss Torbet's flat on Friday and found her with neck injuries.

Miss Torbet was head girl at Bexhill High School in 1999-2000 and the daughter of Detective Chief Inspector Jim Torbet, head of CID in Eastbourne.

Mr Torbet, who is 48 and divorced, has a son of 17.

He joined Sussex Police in 1980 and has also worked in Brighton, Hove and for the Regional Crime Squad.

He led the investigation into the murder of Billy Carmichael in his Brighton home in 2000, when two defendants were jailed for life.

Assemblies in memory of Miss Torbet were being held at 1,500-pupil Bexhill High, which has yet again been touched by tragedy.

Last October, Year 11 pupil Francesca Ward died of meningitis just two days after she celebrated her 16th birthday.

Today wreaths were still being laid outside Miss Torbet's flat, a short walk from the seafront and Bexhill town centre.

One tribute said: "To Dear Rae, You were loved by all." Another said: "We will all miss you".

Miss Torbet had only recently moved into the flat, in three-storey Park Lane Court, near the junction of Bolebrooke Road and Cantelupe Road.

David Cowley, assistant headteacher of Bexhill High in Down Road, said: "Rae was a very well-respected and well-liked head girl, a very bubbly character, very lively, popular with students and staff alike.

"She was an excellent ambassador for the school."

Her ex-partner factory worker Dellwyn James, 31, of Chiltern Drive, Hastings, has been charged with her murder.

He was remanded in custody by magistrates. No bail application was made. He will appear at Lewes Crown Court for a preliminary hearing on April 10.