A FORMER Bolton solicitor has been killed in an Australian boating accident.

Nigel Duncan was riding on a rubber ring being towed by a ski boat on the Hawkesbury River near Sydney when it was propelled too close to the bank and ploughed into a boat.

A police rescue launch was on the scene within minutes, but attempts by officers to revive 45-year-old Mr Duncan failed.

Mr Duncan, who lived with his wife Faye and 13-month-old son Robert in Melbourne, had been in Sydney on a stag weekend when the accident happened. News of his death on February 22 has shocked friends and former neighbours in Rose Lea, Harwood, where Mr Duncan, his older brother Peter and parents Marjorie and Ian lived for many years.

The family had moved to Bolton from Rhodesia when Nigel was nine and he became a pupil at Bolton School. After studying at Nottingham University and Chester Law College he qualified as a solicitor, working for a Manchester firm, and in 1986 joined his brother and parents in Australia where they had previously emigrated.

Three years later he met his future wife, Faye, who is of Russian descent. The pair married in Queensland in 1992 and travelled back to Bolton to have their marriage blessed at the parish church.

The couple set up home in Mornington Road, Heaton, but five years ago decided to head back to Australia.

Marjorie's sister Maureen Lord still lives in Bolton. She said: "The family are absolutely devastated. They are still in shock.

"Nigel was a gentleman. He was very quietly spoken and polite, but confident too.

"He had a very busy life, but was a big family man and very close to his mum, Marjorie. He will be dearly missed."

Former Harwood neighbour Mavis Cholerton, who still keeps in touch with the Duncan family, said: "It is absolutely terrible.

"Everything seemed so happy. They were just a nice, happy family."

An inquiry into Nigel's death is being conducted in Australia and his funeral was held in Sydney last Thursday.