THE trial of a Darwen man accused of murdering and raping his 14-year-old daughter is due to begin next week.

Sean Brown, 35, of Huntington Drive, is due to appear before Preston Crown Court on Monday, charged with the murder and rape of Carry Ann Brown.

The teenager was driven away from her foster carers' house in the Whitebirk area of Blackburn on August 15 last year.

But the car, allegedly driven by Brown, crashed between junctions 41 and 42 of the M6 south of Carlisle causing Carry Ann to receive 'life threatening' injuries.

Brown was also taken to Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle, with an arm injury.

He was later charged with the attempted murder and rape of his daughter.

Carry Ann, also of Huntington Drive, was kept on a life support machine for five days after the crash until a decision was made by the hospital and family's solicitors to switch it off.

After her death Brown was charged with her murder.

At the time of her death, Carry Ann's grandmother Dorothy, 70, described her as a "lovely girl who would do anything to help anyone."