THE family of a sword-wielding man who was shot dead by police after he drove the wrong way along a busy road last night said he was a compassionate charity worker.

Armed police shot Simon Murden, 26, of Beverley, after he approached them with a sword on the A63, near Hull, according to Humberside Police.

Officers had been called to the A63 at 6.20am after reports of a vehicle driving down the eastbound carriageway in the wrong direction.

Armed officers were deployed to the scene but Mr Murden got out of the van and began to approach the marksmen with a sword.

He was then shot with baton rounds, but got up and continued to make his way towards the officers, who then shot him dead at 7.30am.

The van belonged to the Beverley-based charity And Albert, of which Mr Murden's father is a director.

In a statement, his parents said their son was brought up a committed Christian.

They said: "The family is devastated by what has happened today. Simon lived at home and was a gentle family man.

"He worked for his father, who ran a Fair Trade charity and had only recently returned from a charity trip to Ghana. He was planning further trips to Africa to carry out charity work.

"He loved life and wanted to make it a better place."

Last night, the dead man's farmhouse was sealed off by officers.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission immediately launched an investigation.

The road was closed while forensic officers examined the scene of the shooting.

An eyewitness said he was working within yards of where the man was shot dead. He said: "He was on the wrong side of the road in a blue Transit. He hit quite a few cars and then he's lost the wheel. Then he was wafting round a sword."

Another man, who lives close to the scene, said: "I was woken at about half-past six. There were two separate rounds of gunshot fire, a severe amount, not a single gunshot. There were five or six shells fired and then another five or six shells fired after that."