THE family of a motorcyclist who was killed in a crash near Kirkwhelpington on Thursday has paid tribute to him.

At around 9.10am police received a report of a collision between a blue Ford S Max car and a red Honda CBR motorbike, on the A696 near Kirkwhelpington.

The male driver of the motorcycle was sadly pronounced dead at the scene, and now police have named him as 33-year-old Shaun O'Connell, who lived in Throckley.

The driver of the car was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries and his condition is described as stable.

Shaun was travelling with his younger brother James at the time of the incident.

His family said he had just started a new job in a call centre and was actively involved in his local church, Hillsong Church Newcastle, with his parents, Kevin and Denise.

He also had an older brother called Anthony.

On Friday the family said in a statement: "We are devastated. Anyone who knows Shaun will know what a loss this is.

"We are a motorbike family - we all love to go out on the bikes and this was just an ordinary day. Sadly everything has now changed."

Police are continuing to appeal for witnesses to the collision and have appealed for anyone who saw the collision, or saw the vehicles involved in the lead up to the incident, to contact officers on 101 quoting log 255 25/05/17.