A teacher charged with a string of sex offences has been found dead on a beach in Lancashire.

The body of Nigel Foster, 48, was discovered at Fleetwood, near Blackpool, just a week after he appeared before magistrates in Hastings.

The married father of two had been granted conditional police bail provided he stayed at his brother's home in Blackpool.

Police were alerted when Foster, of Church Lane, Westfield, near Hastings, failed to report to a police station as part of his bail conditions.

His body was found on the beach on Tuesday evening. Police said initial inquiries suggest his death was not suspicious.

Foster faced four charges involving offences alleged to have taken place between February 19 and March 21, having unlawful sex with a child under 18 while in a position of trust, taking indecent pictures, indecent assault on a female under 16 and unlawful sex with a female under 16.

Foster had taught at a mixed-sex school for more than eight years.

Rumours that he was under investigation had spread throughout the school before he was suspended pending the inquiry's outcome.

Letters telling parents the teacher had been suspended amid police inquiries were sent out by the school's principal.

A Blackpool police spokesman said today: "Next of kin have been informed.

"Inquiries are continuing but at this stage we are not treating his death as suspicious."

An inquest on Foster was due to be opened in Lancashire today.