Newsreader Carol Barnes is critically ill in hospital after suffering a massive stroke.

The ITN journalist, who lives in Brighton Marina, was being treated in the intensive care unit at the Royal Sussex County Hospital tonight. Her family were at her bedside.

Ms Barnes, 63, anchored the News at Ten and presented the news for Sky and ITN digital channels.

She was married to Labour MP Denis McShane and later married ITN cameraman Nigel Thomson.

Her daughter with Mr McShane, Clare, died when she was 24 in a sky-diving accident in Australia in 2004.

Ms Barnes also has a son, James, with Mr Thomson.

She recently presented the ITV programme 'Saving Ed Mitchell' where she set out to discover why the life of her former colleague, who had collapsed into alcoholism and homelessness, had taken such a dramatic turn.