A YOUNG motor sports fan was killed when a high-speed rally car flew out of control and hit him, an inquest heard yesterday.

Schoolboy Marc Taylor, 11, died at the scene after a Vauxhall Nova somersaulted through the air, careering into him and a group of other people.

Spectators fled as they saw the vehicle fly into the air as the driver apparently lost control.

Marc, of Winlaton, Gateshead, had been watching a stage of the annual Cheviot Rally on Otterburn military ranges, Northumberland, when the accident happened.

Several other people were injured in the crash on February 13 last year.

South Northumberland Coroner's Court was told how the car had spun out of control and flew into the air an it travelled towards a 90-degree left-hand turn.

Marc had watched his father Neil, also competing in the stage, race past just moments before he was killed.

Marc, at the event with his cousin Christopher Hymers and other family members, had been due to leave the corner after his father's car had passed.

But his uncle, Ian Hymers, suggested they stay to see one more car flash past - and that turned out to be the car that killed him.

One of the other witnesses to the crash, Michael Reed, said: "When the car came to rest the driver got out and all I heard was: 'I have killed a bairn. I have killed a bairn'."

The inquest also heard that Nova driver Alyn Stockton's stepdaughter, Sarah, had been standing on the mound just moments before his car crashed over it.

His brother, David Stockton, said: "I decided I did not want to be that close to the bend so we moved."

One witness told how the car had reached a speed of between 60-70mph before braking hard just seconds earlier.

Another spectator, David Dobson, was standing near the mound, considering it the safest place to be.

He said: "The car came towards where I had been standing, going through the fence, overturning and going over the mound of earth. I realised some people were seriously injured."

The inquest, due to last three days, continues.