POLICE say a man who fell to his death from the top of cliffs near Folkestone on Sunday morning lived locally.

He is thought to have been in his 30s or 40s but has not yet been named.

His body was found at the bottom of Abbot's Cliff, Capel. The 435ft fall was witnessed by a man walking along the beach.

He raised the alarm from his mobile phone and tried to resuscitate the casualty until the emergency services arrived.

Coastguard Ian Leighton said: "We had been at the exact same spot at 9.30am that morning doing a cliff rescue exercise and finished at 11.30am. We then went to have a drink in Capel when we got this call.

"At first we were told the man was at Folkestone warren, but it turned out to be Abbot’s Cliff. He had fallen from the very highest point of the cliffs.

"A local person saw it happen and tried to help. He was very shaken."

Police sealed off the area for several hours to carry out forensic investigations.