A bishop involved in a fatal, two car smash says he is praying for a woman killed in the accident.

Karen Barton, 44, of The Oval, Hartlepool, was a passenger in a white MG sports car being driven by her husband, Nigel, 51, when it was in a collision with a blue Ford Mondeo, in which the Right Rev John Crowley, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Middlesbrough, was a passenger.

Mrs Barton was pronounced dead at the scene, while her husband was airlifted to Middlesbrough's James Cook University Hospital, with serious, though not life threatening injuries.

The bishop and the driver of the Mondeo, the bishop's Vicar-General, the Right Rev Monsignor Canon Ricardo Morgan, were treated for neck and slight injuries at Northallerton's Friarage Hospital, following the crash which happened on the A684 between Northallerton and Osmotherley, at Winton Bank, North Yorkshire, on Friday.

The bishop said: "I would like to offer my sympathy to and my prayers for the other people involved in the incident."

It is understood the bishop and Monsignor Morgan, who is also Cathedral Dean at St Mary's Cathedral, Middlesbrough, were returning to Teesside from a meeting in Leeds when the accident happened.

North Yorkshire Police are appealing for witnesses to the crash, which happened at about 3pm last Friday, and in particular motorists who were travelling behind the sports car.

Witnesses are asked to ring North Yorkshire police on (01723) 509555, or North Yorkshire Police headquarters at Newby Wiske on 0845 60 60 247.

The Diocese of Middlesbrough covers most of North Yorkshire, the whole of East Yorkshire, some parts of County Durham, south of the River Tees; the cities of York and Hull and the town of Middlesbrough.

The bishop was installed as the sixth Bishop of Middlesbrough on January 18, 1993.