POLICE have charged a man with manslaughter following the death of a 47-year-old man in Blackburn town centre.

Ricki Hickmott, 33, of Brookway, Waterloo, Blackburn, was due to appear before Blackburn Magistrates today.

He was charged after being questioned by detectives yesterday.

Martin Bibby, of Stopes Brow, Lower Darwen was found slumped unconscious in Cardwell Place, in the early hours of Sunday after a night out with work colleagues.

Police tried to revive Mr Bibby for 30 minutes until the arrival of an on-call doctor.

He was taken to Blackburn Royal Infirmary's intensive care unit but died later on Sunday morning.

A post-mortem examination revealed the cause of death to be head injuries.

An incident room was set up at Greenbank police station, Whitebirk, and the investigation is being led by Detective Superintendent Michael Gradwell.

On Sunday, police officers conducted inquiries in the area, including questioning people in surrounding pubs.

Police are due to scan CCTV footage of that area of the town centre and they completed a forensic examination of the scene yesterday.

Detective Inspector Neil Hunter said examining the CCTV footage would take a few days to go through.

Mr Bibby's family are understood to be deeply traumatised and were too upset to talk publicly about the incident.

A police spokesman said: "In connection with the death of Martin Bibby we have charged Ricki Hickmott, 33, of Brookway in Blackburn, with manslaughter and he will appear before Blackburn Magistrates."