Car crashes after police search

A man has died and another has been seriously injured in a car crash, after a police search in Cheshire.

Police say they received a call in the early hours, alerting them to a car carrying three men in balaclavas, armed with sledgehammers in the Chester area.

The car was followed, but sped off and lost patrol cars. Two men were later found in the car after it crashed into a parked lorry at Capenhurst.

The driver suffered serious injuries and a passenger died at the scene.

'Masked men'

Officers were called at about 0300 GMT, alerting them to a silver Vauxhall Omega that had been seen in a car park on Cousens Way, Chester, with three masked men inside.

A patrol car followed the vehicle onto the A5116 before losing sight of it.

Just after 0323 GMT another police patrol spotted the vehicle after it had collided into a parked lorry on the A540 at Capenhurst Lane near the Yacht public house.

Two men were still inside the vehicle. The driver was taken to hospital with serious injuries and a passenger declared dead at the scene.

The A540 at the junction with A550 at Two Mills traffic lights has been closed, a police spokeswoman said.