Horses spark road death tragedy

An elderly man died amid a succession of car crashes on a busy motorway in County Durham, started by two runaway horses galloping across the carriageway, police said.

James Leon Balmer, 71 and from Stockton, Teesside, died in hospital after the incident on the A1(M) near Durham City on Sunday night.

One of the horses died and the other ran off following the incident, a spokesman for Durham Police said.

The stretch of motorway was closed for almost seven hours.

The tragedy was sparked by an initial accident in which a Ford Mondeo left the motorway and careered through a fence into a field startling two horses who then ran out into the busy road.

Four other cars were then involved by either clipping or hitting one or both of the terrified animals before two of the cars careered down an embankment.

Two other cars managed to pull up on the hard shoulder but a fifth car, travelling in the opposite direction, struck debris from the incident.

A spokesman for Durham Police said: "Mr Balmer, of Whitehouse Drive, Stockton, died in hospital from severe head and internal injuries after his Toyota car was one of the two forced into the embankment."