Former rugby league player David Myers, from Warrington, has been killed in an accident on the M6 motorway.

The 37-year-old died about 90 minutes before a crash on the same road in Cheshire in which a family of six were killed, Cheshire Police said.

The ex-Wigan Warriors and Widnes Vikings star was driving a van which hit a bridge support.

A Cheshire Police spokesman said: “We can confirm the name of the man who died in the earlier road crash on the M6 between junctions 17 and 18 as David John Myers.”

A family of six, parents and three children, one of them “very small”, are believed to have died in the second crash.

Their car caught fire during a crash involving three lorries and two cars between junctions 16 at Barthomley and 17 at Sandbach. They had set off from Birmingham and were heading home to Llandudno, police said.

A spokesman for Wigan Warriors said: “It is with regret that the Wigan Warriors have today learned of the sad death of former player David Myers in a car accident.

“Myers played for the Club between 1990 and 1992 where he made 69 appearances for the team scoring 38 tries.

“The winger will be remembered particularly for the 1991 Challenge Cup Final where he scored a vital try at Wembley to help Wigan defeat St Helens, 13-8.”

Performance director Joe Lydon said: “David and I played in the same Wigan team in the early 1990s. It is such a tragedy to learn about this news and my thoughts are with his family.”

Click here to go to the Facebook group set up in David's memory