Four-year-old Jordan Claridge died early today in a Spanish hospital after a car crash in which his mother, Nichola, was killed.

Jordan, of Harton, fell into a coma after the accident which happened on Saturday during a two-week family holiday in Puerto del Carmen in Lanzarote.

He was airlifted from the island to a special children's hospital in Gran Canaria. Relatives of his mother flew out to join his father, Kevin, and baby brother, two-year-old Lewis, to be at Jordan's bedside.

Jordan died in the intensive care unit of the Las Palmas hospital. His 26-year-old mother died at the scene of the crash. A spokesman from the hospital said today that Jordan was declared brain dead at 5.30pm last night. At 1.30am his breathing apparatus was switched off so that his organs could be donated to other patients.

Jordan's father, Kevin, broke down in tears when he spoke to the Evening Press from the hospital by telephone: "My son is dead. I am very sorry, but I am really too upset to talk about it."

The family were half way through a two-week holiday in the Canary Islands when their hire car was in collision with a motorcycle near the island's capital, Arrecife.

The motorcyclist, 27-year-old local man Jose Antonio Baez Duque, also died. His funeral took place yesterday afternoon.

Friends and neighbours in the village of Harton and at the family's former York address in Burlington Avenue, where they lived for four years, were shocked and saddened by the tragedy.

Former Burlington Avenue neighbour, Doris Mill, said: "I am absolutely shocked. Nichola was very quiet and kept herself to herself. She was a very nice person."

Las Palmas British vice-consulate, Anita Pavillard, said they were helping the family as much as possible to get the bodies of Nichola and Jordan back home.

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