Three families have been told their missing loved one was not the victim of a gruesome Sussex mystery.

Detectives investigating the unidentified “Bolney torso” have ruled out three men as possible victims after making public appeals for information in Europe.

The headless and handless corpse was found off Broxmead Lane, Bolney, in October 1991 and buried, with the murder unsolved, in 1994.

Last year, Sussex Police exhumed the body from its grave in Haywards Heath.

Forensics tests showed the man was likely to have come from the area around southern Germany before spending the last year of his life in the UK or France, and was in his mid or late 30s - years younger than first thought.

Detective Superintendent Andy Griffiths, head of Sussex CID’s major crime branch, said: "Following the media appeals, both on UK Crimewatch and its German counterpart, we did receive numerous suggestions of who the victim may be.

“Subsequent enquiries have eliminated most of those people and work continues on the others.

“Through this process we have been able to conclusively inform three families that the victim is not their loved one.”

He pledged that officers would continue to trawl missing persons records from the UK and abroad.

He said: “It is our job to get justice for the victim and his family and we will do everything we can to ensure that happens, regardless of the age of the case."

The latest twist in the inquiry surfaced as police across the country revealed there are 1,143 unsolved cases on their books.