The boss of the UK's biggest sportswear retailer JJB Sports which has an outlet at Greenbridge has been found hanged just days before crucial results from the group.

Lancashire police said 43-year-old Duncan Sharpe, chief executive of the troubled firm, was discovered by a farmer hanging from a tree near Bolton-by-Bowland yesterday afternoon.

A police spokesman said there were no suspicious circumstances and the death had been referred to a coroner.