Police get more time to quiz father

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The 45-year-old was held on suspicion of murder on Saturday night after medical records were used to establish that the remains belonged to Victoria Couchman.

Police were granted a further 36 hours until 11.22pm on Monday to quiz him as a fingertip search continued in Redgeland Wood in the Queensway area of Hastings, East Sussex.

Children playing in the woodland, near the Wishing Tree Reservoir, found a human skull on Monday afternoon.

Further forensic searches revealed other remains, including an upper left leg, pelvic bone and tibia, which were discovered near each other and did not appear to be buried.

Sussex Police announced that a 45-year-old local man was arrested on Saturday night on suspicion of murder. Sources said the man was Ms Couchman's father.

Details of a cause of death have not been disclosed by police who before the arrest said it was important to establish how Ms Couchman ended up in the woods.

Police said on Friday that around 90% of the skeleton had been recovered and that the bones were degraded.

It was originally thought the remains had been in the woods for up to 10 years, but following further discoveries police said they think they had been there for around 18 months.

One key piece of information for police came from the disclosure that the victim's upper left leg had suffered a full break and had been pinned.