Two friends whose bodies were pulled from the sea off the coast of Sussex earlier this week have been named by police.

A huge search and rescue operation was launched on Monday after an inflatable dinghy was seen drifting out at sea early in the afternoon.

The worrying discovery prompted lifeboats and coastguard to spend nine hours scouring the waters on Monday and searches resumed on Tuesday morning.

The body of a man was recovered from the English Channel just after 5pm on Monday.

He was named by police as Harry Garrood, 51, from Brighton, on Thursday evening.

As police sought to establish his identity, it became apparent that his friend was also missing.

Emergency searches continued on Monday evening until 11pm and resumed on Tuesday morning at 6am.

About 8.45am on Tuesday a body was spotted by the coastguard helicopter and brought ashore on a lifeboat.

He has now been named by police as Matthew Stoneley, 46, also from Brighton.

The deaths are not being treated as suspicious and have been passed to the coroner.