A front-seat car passenger who died after a crash in Needham Market last night has been named by police.

Mike Ashton, 47, of Hitcham, died after a Ford Mondeo and a Peugeot 206 were involved in a collision in Barking Road, near the Hascot Hill junction, at around 8.45pm.

Mr Ashton, a front-seat passenger in the Peugeot, was pronounced dead at the scene, Suffolk Constabulary said.

The drivers of both vehicles – a man in his 20s who was driving the Ford and a woman in her early 30s who was driving the Peugeot – were taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Firefighters and paramedics were also called to the scene. Fire crews cut free the woman from the wreckage before she was taken to Ipswich Hospital with a suspected fractured pelvis.

The man in his 20s suffered chest pains, it was also previously reported. A total of three ambulances were sent to the scene.

Police closed the road for several hours while investigations were carried out.

The tragedy is the seventh fatal crash on the county’s roads so far this year. There were 35 deaths on Suffolk’s roads in 2015.

Witnesses who saw the crash, or either of the cars prior to the collision, are asked to call police on 101 quoted CAD353 of March 15.