Earlier on Tuesday, police revealed the victim's name as local boy Christopher Swales.

His body had been found on Sunday.

But his parents believed he was staying with friends and did not realise the body was their son's until Tuesday.

A spokesman for Lincolnshire Police, Inspector Russ Hardy, said: "Because of his age we are obviously treating this as a very serious crime."

Detectives said that items found on his body indicated that Christopher had been to a nearby nightclub, the Street.

It is understood he had been staying with friends over the New Year weekend.

Appeal to clubbers

The teenager was found near the Skegness sea defences by a workman cleaning rubbish from the sand shortly after 0800 GMT on Sunday.

Inspector Hardy said: "The post mortem examination revealed he has died as the result of a physical assault."

Security video footage from the nearby nightclub, the Street, and CCTV tapes from around the town centre have been collected by detectives.

Inspector Hardy added: "We would like to hear from anyone who was in the Street club on Saturday night and may have seen this boy.