A pile of clothes found on Whitstable beach are believed to belong to a missing woman, police have confirmed.

The items were discovered on the seafront by coastguard teams, who raised the alarm yesterday morning.

They are thought to belong to Sarah Deakin, 57, who vanished on Sunday evening.

Officers say they are "very concerned" for the welfare of Ms Deakin, who was last seen in Shaftesbury Street, Whitstable at 9.30pm, which is near her home

They launched an appeal for information about her whereabouts yesterday morning, as emergency crews including police and the Coastguard scoured the area.

The RAF Sea King also joined the search, and was spotted hovering overhead near the Old Neptune pub.

Part of the beach near the tennis courts was sealed off yesterday and several police cars and coastguard vehicles were parked near the harbour.

A Thames Coastguard spokesman said it was helping in the search for "a high risk missing person" in the Whitstable area.

The Herne Bay Coastguard rescue team and RAF helicopter scoured the seafront, before widening the search to the sea between Seasalter and Herne Bay.

After the clothes were discovered at first light, Whitstable RNLI Lifeboat and Sheppey Coastguard teams were drafted in to help.

The spokesman added: "An extensive search of this area was conducted with nothing located. The search was suspended around lunch time awaiting any further information."

Today, police confirmed the clothing is thought to belong to Ms Deakin, but that her family were yet to identify it.

Ms Deakin is described as being 5ft 8in tall with shoulder length blonde hair.

She was wearing a pale blue rain coat with a black zip-up jacket underneath, black trousers and dark boots. She was carrying an olive green handbag.

Anyone who has seen Sarah Deakin or knows of her whereabouts is asked to call Kent Police on 101 quoting incident number 03-0029.

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