A holidaymaker fell hundreds of feet to his death after being blown over a cliff as he tried to take a photograph.

Police revealed today how the body of the man was recovered from the foot of an area of cliffs at Beachy Head, near Eastbourne, called Gun Hill.

A member of the public saw the man as he stood on the cliff edge taking a photograph of the view at 5.45pm on Thursday.

Moments later he was caught by a gust of wind which sent him plunging over the edge.

The witness then telephoned for help on his mobile phone.

The Eastbourne Lifeboat and the police helicopter were sent to investigate and discovered the bodies of two men within 20ft of each other on the beach.

It took almost three hours to recover the bodies, which were taken away for examination.

A police spokes-man confirmed that one of the bodies was believed to be that of the holidaymaker seen on top of the cliffs earlier that day.

The Eastbourne coroner's office is currently trying to identify both bodies.

One is thought to be a man from Coventry and the other to be from Kent.