The former foster parents of a four-year-old boy who died from head injuries have been charged with cruelty.

Simon McWilliam, 40, and his wife Michelle, 34, from Fishersgate, Southwick, have been given police bail and are due to appear before magistrates tomorrow.

The charges follow a six-month investigation by the Brighton police child protection team.

The boy, who comes from Brighton but cannot be named for legal reasons, died last December when he was staying in Fishersgate.

He was taken by ambulance to the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, with severe head injuries and was later transferred unconscious to St Thomas' Hospital in London.

He died there in the early hours of Christmas Eve after doctors switched off his life-support system.

A post mortem showed he died from a brain haemorrhage.