AN INVESTIGATION has begun after a man died after falling from a hotel balcony on Monday morning.

Police were called to the Hotel Grand Burstin, by the harbour in Folkestone, just before 7.30am after the man fell onto the roof of a shop in the hotel complex.

The man is thought to have committed suicide.

Inspector Michael Coltham said: "We believe he jumped out of a room.

"We are treating his death as suspicious and are investigating the exact circumstances."

Some guests huddled outside the hotel in groups during the morning, some of them in tears. Staff at the hotel refused to comment.