Air accident investigators have launched an inquiry into a crash which killed a Brighton restaurant owner and his girlfriend.

Tony Baker, 52, from Saltdean, was flying to Devon from Shoreham Airport on Sunday with his partner, Elaine Parry, 43, from Brighton, when the plane crashed in a field in the New Forest.

The bodies of the couple were found by a farmer next to the wreckage of the aircraft at Snooks Farm, South Baddesley, near Lymington, Hampshire.

Air accident investigators are looking into the cause of the crash of the single engine Baker Bambi light aircraft.

The wreckage has been taken from the crash site to the Air Accidents Investigation Branch headquarters at Farnborough.

Mr Baker ran T.B Restaurants, whose offices are based in North Road, Brighton. He owned Dig in the Ribs Restaurant, Preston Street, Brighton, and The Dorset Cafe Bar and restaurant on the corner of Gardner Street and North Road.

Mr Baker, who lived in Chichester Drive West, Saltdean, was an experienced pilot who started flying microlights in his 20s.