A BISHOP involved in a fatal two-car accident says he is praying for a woman who died 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 collision with a blue Ford Mondeo, in which the Right Reverend John Crowley, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Middlesbrough, was a passenger.

Mrs Barton died at the scene, and her husband was airlifted to Middlesbrough's James Cook University Hospital.

Doctors said his injuries were serious, though not life-threatening.

The bishop and the driver of the Mondeo, the bishop's Vicar-General, Monsignor Canon Ricardo Morgan, were treated for neck and other slight injuries at Northallerton's Friarage Hospital.

The crash occurred on the A684 between Northallerton and Osmotherley, at Winton Bank, North Yorkshire, on Friday. Bishop Crowley 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 from a meeting in Leeds when the accident happened.

Police are appealing for witnesses to the accident, which happened at about 3pm, particularly 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, all of East Yorkshire, parts of County Durham, and the cities of York, Hull and Middlesbrough.