Two police officers have been killed while trying to stop a van which had been pursued across three counties by a police car.

The officers were hit by the white van at 0147 BST on Thursday on the northbound carriageway of the A42 at Worthington, near Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire.

The two Leicestershire officers had been laying a "stinger", a spiked device used to stop vehicles, across the road, a Police Complaints Authority (PCA) spokesman said.

The van had been followed by police after failing to stop for an officer in Shirley in Solihull in the West Midlands.

Van followed

A 38-year-old van driver has been arrested on suspicion of murder and causing death by dangerous driving and is being held at Beaumont Leys police station in Leicester.

The A42 was closed from the Flagstaff roundabout and junction 23A of the M1.

The southbound carriageway reopened at around 1430 BST on Tuesday, but the northbound carriageway is expected to remain closed for some hours.

It is thought one of the officers died instantly and the other later.

Police vehicles being removed

The two Leicestershire officers are not being named until formal identification procedures have taken place.

A PCA statement said it would be carrying out an independent investigation into the fatal incident.

"The officers were hit by a white transit van, at 1.47a.m. on the A42," it said.

Chief superintendent Peter Goode of Leicestershire Police has been asked to carry out the investigation.

Colleagues dead

Police were reconstructing the accident at the scene on Thursday afternoon.

Sergeant Chris Brown, of Leicestershire Police, said: "It is a real shock for all officers when there is a fatal road traffic accident to deal with.

"When it is a colleague, it makes it even more difficult."

West Midlands Police said one of their officers, who was in a marked patrol car, instructed a white Ford Transit van to stop at 0119 BST on Thursday in Shirley, near Solihull.

A force spokeswoman said: "It failed to do so and was followed."