POLICE have launched a fresh appeal for witnesses to two fatal road traffic accidents which killed four people including a young volleyball star from Poole.

Officers are keen to hear from anybody who may have seen the two collisions which occurred within three-and-a-half hours of each other on Sunday.

Eighteen-year-old Mark Pitman, 23-year-old Suzanne Manning from Upminster Bridge in Essex and a man in his late 20s from Cornwall, all died in an accident at Merley, near Wimborne.

They were among five people travelling in a Renault 19 when their vehicle collided with a Rover 620 saloon at the junction of Queen Anne Drive and Lynwood Drive.

The occupants of the Renault had spent the day at the Poole Festival of Volleyball competition at Hamworthy Recreation Club in Canford Magna.

Mark, a former Poole High pupil and a junior national volleyball champion, had been competing at the international event.

The two other people in the Renault - a 23-year-old woman from Essex and a 28-year-old woman from Essex - were slightly injured during the collision.

The driver of the Rover - a Bournemouth man - was taken to hospital for treatment and released on Monday night.

He has since been arrested and released on police bail for an alleged motoring offence.

This tragic accident came after a horrific collision on the A35 Upton bypass in which Parkstone man Jason Kirk Shelley, 32, died.

The accident occurred after a brand new demonstration Vauxhall VX 220 convertible vehicle collided with a 55-seater coach at the eastbound slip road from Upton.

The Damory coach was carrying 38 people when it collided with the £25,000 sports car joining the eastbound dual carriageway.

Passenger Mr Shelley, who worked as a manager at a local building society, died as a result of the collision.

The driver, a Poole man in his late 20s who works in Christchurch, sustained serious chest injuries and was taken to Poole hospital.

His condition has been described as stable.

Anyone with information should contact Dorset Police on 01202 222500.