The last words of speed record-breaker Donald Campbell have been preserved thanks to the latest technology at a North-East college.

Paul Evans was the last person to hear Mr Campbell's voice as he made his fated attempt to break the world water speed record in 1967 on Coniston Water, Cumbia.

. He was in charge of radio communications when Mr Campbell attempted to become the first man to go faster than 300mph on water.

Mr Evans, who lives in Darlington, still has the original radio communications for Mr Campbell's last two runs in Bluebird, including the fateful crash.

Realising the importance of the recording he decided to get it transferred from the old reel-to-reel cassette tape into a digital recording in order to preserve the historical last moments of Campbell's life.

Darlington College of Technology's hi-tech media department came to the rescue and offered to dub the old tape containing Mr Campbell's final words.

Paul Baldwin, a senior tutor in radio journalism, has made a digital recording of the tape, which he presented to Mr Evans today.

He said: "We are really pleased that we were able to help Mr Evans preserve the recording.

"It was lucky that we had kept some of the old tape recorders and with the help of our digital newsroom, we were able to transfer the tape onto computer and make a CD of the recording."

The original unedited tape is being sent to the coroner's office in Barrow-in-Furness, where at an inquest in October, a verdict of accidental death was recorded on Mr Campbell.

The master recording of his last moments helped to confirm his frantic efforts to de-throttle, a factor which contributed to the crash.

His last words were: "The water's dark green and I can't see a bloody thing. Hallo the bow is up. I'm going. I'm on my back. I'm gone."

Mr Evans hopes a copy of the recording will be included in a planned museum to Donald Campbell and Bluebird.

He said: "The recording helps to prove that pilot error was not to blame for the crash and I am delighted that Darlington College of Technology has been able to preserve such an important piece of history."