TWO deaths marred a bikers' festival which brought 4,500 leather-clad riders to the grounds of a North-East castle at the weekend.

Police were called to Witton Castle, near Bishop Auckland, County Durham, on Saturday morning when a camper attending a Motorcycle Action Group (Mag) rally was found dead in his tent.

A few hours later, another man died when his bike left the A68 south of Tow Law and crashed into several small trees. His identity had not been confirmed last night, but police said he was from outside the region.

On Saturday night, a concert was interrupted as rally-goers paid their respect during a minute's silence.

A member of the Christian motorcycle group spoke to the crowd but, at the request of the camper's friends, the tributes were brief.

Archi Hipkins, from the Motorcycle Action Group, said: "His friends felt that nothing more was needed. He died doing what he loved doing, so we partied on. That is what he would have wanted.

"Any death has an effect on people within the biking world, but we don't dwell on it. We celebrate what was."

Detectives investigating the death of the camper, from Preston, Lancashire, said it was not being treated as suspicious.

The coroner has been informed and a post-mortem examination will be carried out today. Relatives are travelling north this morning to identify the body.

Officers investigating the second death appealed for witnesses who might have seen the accident to come forward.

It happened at 11.15am on Saturday, half-a-mile south of the junction of the A68 and the B6299.

They particularly want to talk to the occupants of a red old-style Nissan Micra. Telephone the accident investigation unit, on 0191-386 4929.

The rally was the 11th held by Mag, a lobby group which campaigns for bikers' rights.

In other years, members have ridden in cavalcade around the North-East to highlight issues affecting the motorbike community, but called off this year's demonstration because of the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

Police at Bishop Auckland said the weekend had passed off peacefully apart from two arrests for drunk and disorderly on Saturday night