A MAN has appeared in court charged with attempted murder after two women were knocked down by a car at a wedding celebration.

Benjamin Ashman is accused of driving a Vauxhall Grandland into a woman aged in her 50s and another in her 20s.

The allegations relate to an incident which is said to have happened at Bowburn Hall Hotel, near Durham, in the early hours of Saturday, August 24.

Mr Ashman today appeared before a judge sitting at Teesside Crown Court via a videolink from Durham Prison, with the prosecution and defence barristers sitting at Newcastle Crown Court.

No pleas were entered by the 36-year-old and the case was adjourned for a week.

The defendant, of Sunderland Street, in Houghton-le-Spring, Tyne and Wear, was remanded into custody ahead of the next hearing.

Durham Police previously said two women were taken to hospital– the older one to the Royal Victoria Infirmary, in Newcastle, with serious injuries.