Sex charges against a 39-year-old Deal man who had worked as a manager for McDonald's have been dropped after he died in January.

West German-born Scott Donnelly had been accused of five indecent assaults against three teenagers dating pre-1991.

But a judge at Canterbury Crown Court heard that Mr Donnelly, of Hamilton Road, has since died from pneumonia.

After a death certificate was produced, the Crown Prosecution Service agreed to stay the indictment - which means the case is officially ended.

A Kent Police press spokeswoman said: "There were two counts of gross indecency with a boy under 16, one count of indecent assault on a boy under 14 and two counts of indecent assault on a girl under 14."

Mr Donnelly had been employed as a manager at McDonalds in restaurants based aboard Dover-Calais ferries in the late 1990s. He was also employed at Dover's Biggin Street restaurant for a short time. He died on January 17.

Sean Barber, franchisee of the Dover and Whitfield branches, said: "Scott stopped working for me about 10 years ago.

"He left the area and moved to the North for some years before coming back to Deal."