A teenager is in a coma after his car swerved off a road and somersaulted into a field.

John Rodgers suffered head injuries in the accident when his car ploughed down a steep grass bank between Elgin and Rothes in Moray and catapulted over a fence.

The 18-year-old was initially taken to Dr Gray's Hospital in Elgin after Friday's crash but was then transferred to an intensive care unit at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, where family members have been at his bedside.

A hospital spokesman said the former Speyside High student, who lives in Rothes, was in a "stable condition".

He added: "He has been taken off the ventilator that was helping him to breathe."

The teenager was due to be transferred to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary yesterday for further treatment.

John's fiancee was understood to be in the car but escaped serious injury.