Biker found dead after phone crash detection alert

Darrel Sturgeon was pronounced dead at the scene on Thursday morning

A biker was found dead nine hours after his mobile phone alerted police of a crash in Ayrshire.

Officers were notified of an incident in the Cloyntie Toll Bridge area by an automated message at 22:18 on Wednesday.

The body of Darrel Sturgeon, 21, was discovered at about 07:35 on Thursday by the B741, near Straiton.

Police Scotland said no other vehicles were involved and inquiries were ongoing.

The force said local officers carried out a search of the area and made additional inquiries after the initial alert.

But they added "further information" led to the discovery of Mr Sturgeon and his Honda motorcycle the following morning.

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Insp Craig Beaver said: "Our inquiries into the circumstances of what happened are under way and our thoughts are with Darrel's family and friends.

"I would appeal to anyone who may have seen a red, blue and white Honda CBR600F motorcycle in Crosshill, Maybole and Straiton areas.

"I'm also appealing to anyone who witnessed the crash or who may have dash-cam footage to contact us as soon as possible, as you may have captured something that could assist our investigation."

Crash detection technology can be used on some of the newer smart phones and watches. It is designed to detect severe car crashes and alert the emergency services.

When a severe car crash is detected, the user's watch or phone sounds an alarm and displays an alert.

The user can choose to ignore or dismiss this but if they are unable to respond, the device automatically calls emergency services after a short delay.

The user can also store emergency contact and medical information which can be accessed by responders to the scene of the crash.