CHELSEA Football Club's multi-millionaire director Matthew Harding was one of the five people killed when a helicopter plunged into a field hours after he had watched his team at Burnden Park last night.

Mr Harding, Chelsea's vice chairman - who last month gave £1 million to the Labour Party - was aboard the Eurocopter Twin Squirrel aircraft which crashed on farmland near Middlewich, Cheshire, last night.

The other four men who died in the disaster have not yet been officially named.

Unconfirmed reports suggested the dead included a London businessman believed to be a friend of Warburton's joint managing director, Jonathan Warburton. They died less than two hours after the final whistle.

Mr Harding sat in the directors box throughout last night's match watching Chelsea lose to Bolton Wanderers in the Coca-Cola Cup tie. The helicopter took off from a car park near the Warburtons bakery site off Blackburn Road, Bolton, 15 minutes or so before the crash.

Bakery bosses, who had entertained Mr Harding, waved him off as the helicopter took to the skies on its way to London's Heathrow Airport. The charred remains of a programme from last night's match, with Burnden Park clearly visible, were found in the wreckage.

Residents in Middlewich saw an object falling from the sky in flames at 10.50pm. Earlier calls to the police switchboard reported an unusual engine sound from an aircraft which was flying much lower than expected.

Divisional commander Supt Ian Johns of Cheshire Police said he was not able to officially reveal the names of the men and a woman who died in the crash.

"It would be very unfair of us to speculate bearing in mind there are families sitting at home wondering whether it is their loved ones who have died."

The helicopter, registration G-CFLT, was owned by London-based Aeromega, but was sub-let to a Wiltshire firm, MGA. The pilot managed the Wiltshire company. Mr Johns said local residents reported hearing a helicopter in difficulties shortly before the crash, but discounted reports of a mid-air explosion.

The helicopter came down in a field less than 400 yards from Norcroft Farm, off the Northwich Road near Middlewich. Debris was scattered over a quarter-mile radius as the aircraft hit the ground.

It crashed into an open field but debris ended up in a copse on the farmland. Debris was scattered across an area the size of four football pitches.

Police in a light aircraft took 20 minutes to locate the bodies, which were within 50 yards of each other amid the wreckage, by using thermal imaging equipment.

The five people on board were certified dead at the scene by a doctor from Leighton Hospital, Crewe.

Air accident investigators were beginning their inquiry into the cause of the crash. Cheshire coroner John Hibbert visited the scene in the early hours.

The helicopter crashed about four miles from the M6. It was understood the pilot could have been using the motorway as a navigation aid.

Chelsea chairman Ken Bates said this afternoon "When you hear of a plane which goes down on the other side of the world, you feel sorry but then you get on with your life.

"When it happens to people so close to home then it's hard to take in." Mr Bates travelled back from last night's match at Bolton by executive coach and only heard of Mr Harding's death this morning.

Two inspectors from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch were at the crash scene this afternoon beginning their official inquiry into the incident. It had disintegrated into thousands of small pieces across the field.

Meanwhile, hundereds of fans arrived at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge stadium to lay flowers at the gate and convey their condolences.

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