A YOUNG MAN who died in a car crash will be buried in his beloved Arsenal shirt signed by all his friends. Philip Henson, 22, of Mostyn Road, Vinters Park, Maidstone, was killed instantly when his friend’s Citroen Saxo skidded and crashed last Saturday night.

The car collided with an oncoming Rover car and turned on its side on the A229 Cranbrook Road near Gill’s Green. The driver of the other car, a 57-year-old Hawkhurst woman, was cut free by firefighters and taken to hospital. Her injuries were serious but not life threatening.

The Saxo was being driven by a friend of Mr Henson, who was treated for minor injuries. The friends were driving to Hawkhurst to collect another friend before heading into Maidstone.

Mr Henson’s father, James, said: “The friend blames himself. We have all tried to tell him it isn’t his fault. Witnesses said he wasn’t driving recklessly."

The funeral will take place at Vinters Park Crematorium at Maidstone on Wednesday at 3.30pm. There will be a wake afterwards at The Bell pub in Staplehurst, where Mr Henson was a regular.

His family, including 21-year-old sister Caroline, have decided all funeral donations will go to the Kent Air Ambulance and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, because Mr Henson was also a keen bird watcher.

Anyone who witnessed the accident, which took place at about 8pm, is asked to call PC Nigel Freeman at Cranbrook police station on 01233 611055.