TWO British soldiers, one of them from Selby, were killed in a freak road accident involving a pheasant.

Lance Corporal Stuart Moralee, 28, of Park Avenue, Barlow, near Selby, was serving in Germany when the accident happened on June 21.

An inquest opening in Selby heard that Mr Moralee was travelling on a motorcycle just outside Graven when he was struck by a pheasant.

North Yorkshire Coroner Geoff Fell said that, as a consequence, Mr Moralee's motorbike was in collision with another Army motorcylist, Lance Corporal Stewart-Fletcher.

Both men were killed.

Mr Fell said that LCpl Moralee and LCpl Stewart-Fletcher, believed to be from St Albans, were among a group of soldiers who had gone out on their motorcycles.

LCpl Moralee was serving with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers workshop, attached to the 1st Battalion, The Irish Guards.

Mr Fell said: "It isn't clear yet as to what exactly happened. I am awaiting further information from the Army."

He adjourned the inquest to a date to be fixed.

LCpl Moralee's distraught parents, Jim and Jean, paid tribute to their son, who they said had a "real thirst for adventure".

They said: "Stuart had a love of life and lived it to the full.

"He excelled in everything he did and was the most perfect son a parent could wish for. We are both devastated by our loss."

LCpl Moralee, a former pupil of Barlow Primary School and Brayton College, trained as a joiner before joining the Army.

He had recently returned from military service in Iraq.

A full military funeral was being held today at St Wilfrid's Church, Brayton.

Updated: 12:36 Wednesday, July 09, 2003