POLICE investigating the death of a man as he walked along a dark country road have launched a fresh appeal for witnesses.

Durham Police have released photographs of Denis John James Carr and his dog, who were killed when they were hit by a car at the weekend.

Accident investigators hope the photographs will jog the memory of a motorist, who passed the scene seconds before the fatal collision, and encourage them to come forward.

The accident happened on the A177, south of the Hare and Hounds pub, between Sedgefield and Coxhoe, in County Durham, at about 3.10am, on Sunday.

Mr Carr, from Wolsey Street, in Spennymoor, had left his partner’s home in Sedgefield earlier in the night.

About an hour-and-a-half before the 29-year-old was killed, two patrolling police officers had a casual conversation with him.

At that time, he told the officers he planned to walk, with his Japanese Akita dog, Lennox, to his father’s house in Ferryhill.

They advised him of the safest route before parting company.

Shortly after 3am, on an unlit stretch of the A177, a taxi driver spotted Mr Carr and his dog in the middle of the south-east lane.

The 45-year-old stopped his Ford Transit minibus and flashed the lights to try to warn oncoming traffic, but, tragically, Mr Carr and the dog were struck by a Vauxhall Corsa.

Mr Carr, who worked at the Thorn EMI plant in Spennymoor, died at the scene.

Lennox suffered a serious hip injury and, despite emergency treatment, had to be put down on Monday. PC Nigel Craig, of Durham Police’s accident investigation unit, said the taxi driver recalled seeing the lights of a vehicle a few seconds ahead of him, travelling in the same direction.

PC Craig said: “It is likely the driver of that vehicle saw either the victim or the dog, so we would like to speak to him or her as a matter of urgency.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact the unit on 0191-375-2159.

An inquest into Mr Carr’s death was opened yesterday.