The mother of a man killed in a car crash has told of her agonising wait to find out if a body recovered from the stolen vehicle was that of her son.

Julie Grant was at her Bradford home with two of her four children, Keiron, 18, and Rebecca, 15, when she answered a knock on the door at 5.30am.

A police officer informed her that her 20-year-old son Dale had been killed in a crash and she should wait for the coroner to ring telling her where to go to identify the body.

But when no call came the distraught 37-year-old was forced to turn detective to find out where her son was.

She was told he had been taken to Leeds General Infirmary but when she arrived they could not tell her where he was. The family eventually had to flag down a police car which took them to Millgarth Police Station in Leeds, where officers told them Dale was at a nearby Chapel of Rest.

"We had to do all the detective work ourselves. It was appalling," she said. "Dale's body was found at 1.47am on Saturday but it took 14 hours for us to identify him.

"Until I saw his body I had been hoping it was not him. But I recognised him straight away. His face just looked like he was asleep. There was not a mark on it."

Dale, who had been released from Doncaster Prison on January 8 for a variety of theft offences, was a passenger in the stolen Volvo 440 which smashed into a tree in Snaith Wood Drive, Rawdon.

Police officers on routine patrol came across the crashed car and discovered Dale dead in the back seat and another injured passenger in the front of the vehicle.

Another man was found attempting to hide nearby.

Miss Grant, of Norbury Road, Ravenscliffe, said her son, who also used drugs, had been drinking with a friend at his house in Holme Wood in the hours before his death. "Dale didn't even like cars," said Miss Grant. "He had been in trouble with the police a lot but he had never pinched a car. But his friend said he was buzzing and he just got in.

"We still don't know why the car crashed or why Dale died," said Miss Grant.

A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said: "We are looking into the circumstances surrounding this incident and can only apologise for any distress caused at this tragic time."

l Two 18-year-old Bradford men have been arrested in connection with the incident and have been bailed pending further inquiries.