THE badly-injured fiance of Turkish bomb victim Helyn Bennett has finally been told of her death.

The news was broken to 23-year-old Stephen Stables, from Spennymoor, County Durham, two weeks after he, Helyn and other members of their extended family were caught in a terrorist attack in the Turkish resort of Kusadasi.

His fears were confirmed by a member of his family in Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary, where he is recovering from severe shrapnel wounds, burns and a broken leg.

Until then, he had only known that a number of people had been killed when the terrorist bomb ripped apart a minibus taking them to the beach on Saturday, July 16.

Doctors had not wanted Mr Stables to be told Helyn had died because they feared it would hinder his recovery.

The trainee chef, who worked at the University Hospital of North Durham, was one of five people killed in the blast, which is thought to have been the work of Kurdish PKK separatists.

Until he was flown home last week, Mr Stables, a porter at Durham University, had drifted in and out of consciousness in a Turkish hospital, unaware of the scale of the tragedy.

Travelling with him on the specially-chartered air ambulance was another seriously injured member of the holiday group.

Michael Aspinall, the partner of Miss Bennett's aunt, Toni Punshon, yesterday remained seriously injured in the intensive treatment unit of Durham's University Hospital.

Ms Punshon, 41, from Sherburn, near Durham City, is still in hospital in Newcastle, but her 14-year-old son, Sam, and Miss Bennett's brother, Adam, 16, have been discharged in the past few days.

Miss Bennett's mother, Sharon Holden, 41, and stepfather Tom, missed the attack because they decided to go on a day trip instead, with Helyn's aunt and uncle, Lynn and Terry Debbage.

An inquest into Miss Bennett's death is due to be opened by Durham Coroner Andrew Tweddle in Crook, County Durham, today.

Only after this is completed can the family make arrangements for her funeral.