POLICE admitted last night that they were baffled as to why a teenager described as a "quiet lad" with no history of getting into trouble came to die in a stolen car.

They are trying to discover why Liam Richardson, a well thought of 13-year-old from a respectable family, was in the silver Vauxhall Astra which careered out of control, overturned and crashed into a fence on Thursday night.

The youngster, an Army Cadet Force member, was one of four teenagers in the car which had been stolen from outside a house in Ferryhill about 45 minutes before the crash.

Not one of the four occupants inside the car was old enough to drive.

The driver lost control on a hump in the road near a disused railway crossing in West Cornforth, County Durham.

The car took off - travelling 65ft through the air - before overturning and crashing through a boundary fence bordering a scrap yard.

Liam was confirmed dead at the scene from multiple injuries. The three other occupants, aged 13, 14 and 16, initially fled the scene of the crash, but were later traced.

The 13 and 16-year-olds, who were unhurt, were arrested, interviewed and released on police bail.

The 14-year-old suffered a serious hand injury and was last night being detained in Middlesbrough General Hospital. He has been spoken to by police but not yet formally interviewed.

Inspector Dave Hammond, of Durham Police, said an inquiry was being carried out, but could not confirm which of the four was driving.

He said: "While it is too early to draw any conclusion about the exact cause of the crash, the fact the car was being driven at speed and in the hands of an inexperienced driver are likely to be major considerations."

The dead boy lived with his mother, Angela, stepfather Gary and younger brother Ben in Raby Road, Ferryhill.

Earlier in the evening, they had phoned police because they did not know where he was and were worried.

Liam's 19-year-old brother, David, is a serving soldier in the Royal Mechanical Engineers in Hampshire and has been given leave to travel back to the North-East.

Liam's family were last night being comforted by relatives and were too upset to speak about the tragedy.

But neighbour Betty Metcalfe, who has lived next-door to the family for 15 years, said: "Liam was a nice, pleasant, sociable little lad who always had a word for me when he saw me.

"I've just been to see the family and I can't describe how they are feeling. Things like this just come out of the blue, you don't expect it to happen."

Sergeant John Mole, of the Chilton detachment of the Durham Army Cadet Force, of which Liam was a member, was shocked to hear of the tragedy.

He said: "I've known him a few months. He was a quiet lad but he was fitting in well.

"As far as I was concerned he was an ordinary lad getting on with things and doing what he was told."

Pupils at Spennymoor Comprehensive School, where Liam was a pupil, held a special assembly in his memory yesterday.

Headteacher Ken Hall said: "Liam had recently joined the school. However, in the short space of time he had been here, he had made new friends and they are particularly shocked at this tragic news.

"Our sympathies go out to Liam's family and our thoughts today are very much with them."