A 15-year-old boy was hit by a stolen car as he and two friends ran from its blinding headlights as it sped across a playing field, a court was told yesterday.

The car, containing a driver and three passengers, had earlier been doing handbrake turns and other dangerous manoeuvres, before it hit Ian Gourley, it was alleged.

Ian's two friends ran for help, but despite the efforts of passers-by and paramedics, he was declared dead in hospital less than an hour later. He had suffered head injuries.

Shaun Doods, prosecuting, told Durham Crown Court that police followed tracks left by the car over the Pony Fields, off Eden Lane, Peterlee, County Durham.

They trailed it across fields before finding it ablaze less than a mile away in a ravine at the rear of Yoden Crescent, in nearby Horden.

Inquiries led to the arrest of 22-year-old Dean English three days later.

Yesterday, Mr English, of Basingstoke Drive, Peterlee, denied causing death by dangerous driving and arson following the tragedy, which happened at about 8.25pm last November 19.

Mr Dodds said: "Ian Gourley had met up with friends Michael Irvine and Gemma Crisp, who are both 15.

"Gemma received a call from her mother. When she answered the phone she was screaming that a car with bright lights was coming towards them.

"The vehicle collided with Ian Gourley and then carried on across the field."

He said that Mr English's then girlfriend told officers of apparent admissions he made to her that he was driving at the time of the collision.

Mr English was interviewed, cautioned and made no reply to any questions.

But Mr Dodds said that a defence statement was later submitted by the defendant, claiming that at the time the car struck Ian, he was not in the vehicle.

The statement said: "I had been driving it earlier, but I got out on the field behind the Legion Club, shortly before the incident, and walked across the field."

Mr Dodds told the jury: "Whether he did that is going to be one of the central issues in this case.

"The prosecution say when the car collided with Ian, he was the driver of the car."

A number of witnesses had seen the stolen car on the day Ian died, the court was told.

Ian, a pupil of Belmont Comprehensive School, near Durham, was the youngest of five children, and lived in Lakemore, Peterlee.

The trial continues.