A 23-YEAR-OLD motorcyclist was killed in a crash with a van on the A688 at Spennymoor yesterday. Phillip Garnett, from Ferryhill, was pronounced dead at the scene by an air ambulance doctor. The accident, involving a Honda 600cc motorbike and a white Transit van, happened at the Middlestone Moor bypass junction with Low House Farm at about 2.30pm. Police said last night they believed the van driver pulled out of a layby into the path of the motorcycle. The 23-year-old van driver, from Sunderland, suffered a broken right leg.

Bomb fatality

AN inquest was opened yesterday into the death of Helyn Bennett, a 21-year-old hospital restaurant worker from Spennymoor, who was killed by a terrorist bomb in Turkey. Durham coroner Andrew Tweddle adjourned the hearing at his office in Crook. Miss Bennett's family can now make arrangements for her funeral.