Father who died in crash with stepsons was over drink limit

Driver Philip Bell, 39, died in hospital seven days after the crash which claimed the lives of his stepsons, brothers Danny Mabbott, 16, and Ryan Mabbott, 12, who died at the scene.

An inquest was told yesterday that Mr Bell had been drinking on an empty stomach and was about one-and-a-quarter times over the drink-drive legal limit when the collision happened at about 6pm on April 25, last year.

The fourth person in Mr Bell's Honda Civic, his six-year-old daughter Leah Bell, was badly injured but survived.

Mr Bell was driving home to Swillington, Leeds, when he collided head-on with a Mercedes car coming the opposite way on the A642 Swillington to Woodlesford Road.

The Mercedes driver, Simon Williams, who estimated his own speed at 45-50mph, suffered a broken wrist and cuts and bruises.

Witnesses described seeing a Citroen Saxo being driven recklessly and overtaking at speed shortly before the crash, which may have caused Mr Bell to swerve as it came towards him on the wrong side of the road.

The driver of the maroon Saxo, thought to be a young man in a baseball cap, has never been traced.

Witness Scott Clancy told police he saw the Citroen "fish-tailing" after it had overtaken and cut in front of him in a "stupid and dangerous" manner.

Emma Leaf saw the Saxo complete a "silly" overtaking manoeuvre and then saw the Honda swerve and go on to the opposite carriageway.

Collision investigator Martin Ward agreed with coroner David Hinchliff that the Honda may have lost control as a result of Mr Bell over-correcting the steering.

Mr Hinchliff said the Saxo driver would have known about the serious crash he left in his wake. "He might, from a cowardly point of view, have a vested interest in not coming forward," he added.

The court was told one witness thought Mr Bell had deliberately driven on to the wrong side of the road to "teach the oncoming driver a lesson".

This theory was "speculative", said Mr Hinchliff.

"An alternative, more realistic scenario is that Philip will have taken some form of evasive action and therefore moved his own vehicle.

"As he did so, harsh steering caused the vehicle to lose control."

The presence of the Saxo played a major part in the cause of the crash, the coroner said.

The court heard from Mr Bell's widow, Jacqueline, who described her sons as "truly wonderful boys".

In a statement, she recalled the devastating news that she had lost both of them and Leah was critically ill.

At hospital, she had begged the surgeon: "Please, please don't let me lose all three."

After her husband's death she got through the trauma by focusing on her daughter.

"Leah's survival is a miracle. She is what has kept us going. Our family lives will never be the same again. I don't know what life can throw at us now but nothing can be as bad as this."

Mr Hinchliff recorded accidental death verdicts on all three victims. He said the tragedy reinforced the argument for not drinking any alcohol at all before taking the wheel.

"The toxicology tests were one-and-a-quarter over the (legal) amount. That could well have had some effect on him and his ability to control the vehicle."

"I would be failing in my public duty if I did not mention it. If ever there was an argument for not driving with any alcohol, then a case like this demonstrates this."

He told the boys' mother and their father, Ian Mabbott: "Both strands of your family have been decimated by this."