A car smash which killed a young brother and sister resembled the scene of an "air-crash" an inquest was told.

A coroner said he was "very tempted" to record a verdict that Jenna Armstrong, 19, and her 10-year-old brother Lee were killed unlawfully.

The youngsters, from Ouston, near Chester-le-Street, Co Durham, died when Jenna's Citroen Saxo collided with a Nissan Micra that had pulled out of a junction, across her path, on the A693 near their home on the evening of October 9 last year.

The hearing in Chester-le-Street was told the driver of the Nissan, Thomas Theobald, 78, from Pelton had "carelessly" pulled out in front of Jenna's car when there was not time to get across.

There were no skid marks on the road to suggest that Jenna had applied her brakes before the collision the inquest was told.

Mr Theobald, who has been charged with careless driving, refused to answer questions at the hearing, on legal advice.

Witnesses to the crash told the inquest they believed Jenna had been exceeding the 60mph speed limit at the time of the accident, although with no skid marks on the road it was impossible for police to determine the speed she was travelling.

But PC Keith Butler of Durham Police's Accident Investigation Unit said that even flat out he believed her car would have been unable to exceed 90mph, and with a long straight stretch of the A693 prior to the junction he believed that would still have given Mr Theobald at least 10 seconds to see it.

When asked by the coroner whether he believed Mr Theobald was driving dangerously PC Butler said: "I would say it was certainly careless. Dangerous, that is a hard question to answer.

"If a car pulls out of a junction it has got to be dangerous but whether the driver pulled out in a dangerous manner is another matter."

PC Butler said that Jenna's car had suffered "massive" damage and added: "When we got to the scene it resembled an aircraft crash more than anything."

Delivering an open verdict coroner Andrew Tweddle said to deliver a verdict of unlawful killing he had to be "satisfied beyond all reasonable doubt it was death by dangerous driving."

He said: "I am very, very tempted to return a verdict of unlawful killing, but I have a very small doubt in my mind.

"I will return an open verdict, which I have never done, that is how close it is to unlawful killing."

In a statement, the youngsters' father Ray Armstrong, 52, said: "I feel no personal malice towards Mr Theobald. The comments of the coroner about the driving of Mr Theobald speak for themselves.

"Whatever the comments were they would not bring back my daughter and son."