AN experienced caver and his companion who died after they were trapped by rising waters were named by police yesterday.

Stuart John Goodwill, 33, of Darlington, and Caroline Jane Fletcher, 28, of Riddlesden, Keighley, near Bradford, West Yorkshire, both drowned in a caving accident last week.

Their bodies were found by police and rescue teams following an overnight search after Mr Goodwill's wife raised the alarm at 12.20am on December 28.

She gave police directions to where she believed he and his companion had gone.

Their bodies were found after a three-hour search at the 350ft deep Alum Pot, near Selside, north of Horton in Ribblesdale, in the Yorkshire Dales.

Phil Haigh, duty controller of the Cave Rescue Organisation, said the cavers were experienced and had been caught out by rising water.

An inquest into their deaths was opened and adjourned by the North Yorkshire coroner.

North-East cavers were still shocked yesterday by the news and offered their condolences to the cavers' families.

Mark Hodgson, of the Teesside Adventure Club, was in Whernside on the same day with a group of young cavers.

He said: "On the day it happened I took a group of kids and we were told we couldn't go in because the weather was too bad.

"We were only over at Whernside, which was about 20 miles away."

Peter Roe, a former member of the Cave Rescue Organisation but now based in Swaledale, North Yorkshire, said: "We are quite a tight community in caving. It is like mountaineering. You take calculated risks all the time.

"We hope through training and experience to minimise the risks but there are always risks."