THE family of a pilot and Durham University graduate who died in a crash at Castle Howard earlier this year have raised £19,000 by tackling a 10k run in his memory.

Amrik and Nari Sandhu were joined by 13 other members of their family to honour their son, Ajvir Singh Sandhu, who crashed in a Slingsby Firefly light aircraft near the stately home on April 30.

Mr Sandhu said his family had completed the Great Newham London Run on Sunday, and had been delighted to have beaten their £15,000 funding target following hundreds of donations.

He said: "Ajvir was a true born leader and we were privileged to be able to call him our son. In his short 25 years, Ajvir had a huge impact on everyone he met and will be sadly missed by many.

"We have come together to raise money for the RAF Association to commemorate Ajvir and show gratitude for the support we’ve been given by the RAF family during this difficult time."

After graduating with a first class masters in geoscience from Durham University, Ajvir Sandhu took a leading role within the Northumbria University Air Squadron, and was selected for RAF pilot training passing out of initial stages gaining the Hennessey Trophy and Philip Sassoon Memorial Prize.

He was undertaking fast-jet training at RAF Linton-on-Ouse, near Easingwold, at the time of the crash.