Tycoon and son feared dead

Millionaire football fan Phillip Carter and his teenage son are feared dead after their helicopter crashed while returning from Chelsea's European semi-final with Liverpool.The helicopter came down in woodland in Wansford, Cambs. The tycoon's friend Jonathan Waller is also believed to have been travelling with the party while Stephen Holdich, 49, co-owner of Hampshire-based Atlas Helicopters, reportedly piloted the aircraft.Bodies were found in wreckage of the helicopter which crashed around ten miles from Thornhaugh Hall, where Mr Carter, the honorary vice-president of Chelsea Football Club, lives with his wife Judith and their son Andrew and daughter.Detective Superintendent John Raine, of Cambridgeshire Police, said: "I can confirm there were persons on the helicopter and that those persons are deceased."Det Supt Raine said he would not confirm the identities of the crash victims.Mr Carter is the founder of fast-growing Nottingham-based training company Carter & Carter.Company spokeswoman Faye Adkin said earlier: "At this moment we are praying and hoping for the best. Phillip Carter was returning from the Liverpool football match. We have not had any reported sightings at the moment."We do not know where he and his passengers are. There have been reports that the helicopter has come down but we cannot confirm anything."Mr Carter has earned a name for himself in industry after building the company he founded just 15 years ago into a training and support services empire worth more than £500 million.The entrepreneur has a 21 per cent stake in the company with his shares worth £100 million after floating Carter & Carter on the stock market two years ago.Mr Carter launched the Nottingham-based company in 1992 after a successful career in sales and marketing at chemicals and paint giant ICI and has grown the business into a firm with more than 2,000 employees.He was recently awarded the title of Entrepreneur of the Year at the PLC Awards, an accolade which came just a year after the group was named New Company of the Year.© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

ITN | May 2, 2007

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