Detained Britons Craig and Lindsay Foreman have been charged in Iran with espionage, the country’s judiciary news agency has said.

Mr and Mrs Foreman were arrested in January but news of their detention, on unspecified security charges, emerged last week.

A judiciary spokesperson said that the couple, both aged 52, had “enter Iran under the guise of tourists” and “gathered information in multiple provinces of the country”.

The pair moved from East Sussex to start a new life in Andalucia, Spain, in 2019 and had appeared on an episode of Channel 4’s A New Life in the Sun in 2022 to showcase their lives as expats.

The couple, both aged 52, had been on a motorbike trip around the world and had planned to stay in Iran for five days.

Mr and Mrs Foreman were heading for Australia on their journey across the globe and had crossed into Iran from Armenia on 30 December and were planning to be in Pakistan by 4 January.