Death of man in Sussex ‘no longer suspicious’ and arrested man released

Sussex Police are no longer treating the sudden death of a Sussex man as suspicious.

Officers were called to the High Street in Storrington, West Sussex, just after 10am on Sunday after a man was found unconscious in the street.

The 49-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene.

A forensic post-mortem was carried out at Worthing Hospital on Wednesday. While the cause of death is still under investigation, investigators were able to determine that the man did not die as a result of someone else’s actions.

As a result, a 78-year-old man arrested Sunday on suspicion of murder has been released from custody and is no longer a suspect in connection with the incident.

DCI Andy Wolstenholme, of the Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team, said: “Understandably this tragic incident has shocked the village of Storrington and left a family with a terrible loss; We regret this tragedy and our thoughts are with the family and friends as we continue to support them in understanding what happened to their loved one.

“Based on the evidence presented to us on Sunday, it was necessary to make an arrest and conduct further investigations.

“My team worked quickly and effectively to gather evidence quickly and we were able to exclude the arrested man from our investigation today as we are certain he played no role in the person’s sad death.

“While the actual cause of death is still under investigation, we can assure the community that no third party was involved in this sad death.

“I am grateful to the residents of Storrington for the respect they showed the deceased man while the area was cordoned off by police, those who responded to the witness call and the local shop who provided our team with ice water a hotter Day.”

Sussex Police will continue to investigate the circumstances of this death on behalf of HM Coroner.