Couple bailed over dead boy

Police said the boy had been dead for two weeks

A couple arrested after the body of a two-year-old boy, who had been dead for more than two weeks, was discovered in an East Sussex flat have been released on police bail.

Police officers forced their way into the property in Church Road, St Leonards, after a concerned neighbour raised the alarm.

It was a gruesome discovery for the officers

Sussex Police spokesman

A Sussex Police spokesman said the death was being treated as suspicious and forensic experts and scenes of crime officers were examining the flat.

The man, 25, and the 21-year-old woman, who have not been named but are believed to be the child's parents, had been held in custody since the discovery on Thursday.

They have been bailed to return to Hastings police station on 12 February, the police spokesman said.

A second post mortem examination is being carried out as the first one, performed on Thursday night, failed to disclose the cause of the child's death.

Counselling

Detectives also plan to speak to relatives of the couple to find out the background.

A police spokesman said: "It is a very sad case. It is also very tragic as the child lay in its cot for two weeks through Christmas.

"It was a gruesome discovery for the officers who went into the flat. Counselling will be available to them if necessary."

Initial investigations have suggested the couple - who are understood to have been in the flat when officers went in - did not report his death.