The 15-year-old son of Australian rock icon Nick Cave has died after falling from a cliff at Brighton on the southern coast of England.

Police said Arthur was found with life-threatening injuries by members of the public at the bottom of the cliff at Ovingdean Gap about 6pm on Tuesday after having fallen from the cliffs.

He died later that evening of his injuries in hospital and police are not treating the death as suspicious.

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The grieving family issued a statement through Sussex Police on Wednesday.

Nick Cave and wife Susie Bick are heartbroken. Photo: Getty

“Our son Arthur died on Tuesday evening. He was our beautiful, happy loving boy,” Cave and his wife, model Susie Bick, said.

“We ask that we be given the privacy our family needs to grieve at this difficult time.”.

The Cave family, including Arthur’s twin brother Earl, walked to the cliff top at Ovingdean on Wednesday afternoon and viewed flowers and other tributes placed there, Brighton’s The Argus newspaper reported.

Friends from Bedes school where Arthur was a student laid flowers at the clifftop.

Ed Bucknall told The Argus that Arthur was his best friend and he saw him every day.

“He was one of the nicest guys you could meet, he was so funny and just so much fun. He never said a bad word about anyone,” Mr Bucknall said.

“He loved skating, we always used to skate together. And now we can’t.”

Another friend, Charles Terras, 14, said: “We were at his house yesterday morning and then later on in the day we couldn’t get hold of him. He kind of disappeared.
”

“It is horrible for his brother Earl,” Charles said.

Just hours before he was found, Arthur had reportedly sent a photo of himself smiling to a schoolfriend through messaging app Snapchat.

​Kimya Hajisaeagh, 15, told The Mirror in the UK that she had been friends with Arthur since primary school. She said they had a friend who lived near the cliffs where he fell.

“I just can’t believe it. I’m in shock, everybody is in shock,” she said.

Nick Cave grew up in south eastern Australia but moved to London with his punk band The Birthday Party in 1980.

He is best known for his work with the band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

– with AAP