M6 crash driver who killed family would have been charged

The family were returning from a trip to Legoland in Windsor, Berkshire, when the collision happened between junction 38 and 39 at 4.05pm. Richard Woods, 40, drove 1.1 miles on the fast lane of the northbound carriageway of the M6 near Tebay, Cumbria, for at least 57 seconds as several motorists had to swerve to avoid him on the afternoon of October 15 last year. Jaroslaw Rossa, 42, also attempted to steer clear of Mr Woods's Skoda Fabia but he did not have time to react to the oncoming vehicle, which was travelling at a speed of at least 65mph, Cockermouth Coroner's Court heard.

Mr Rossa, his partner Jade McEnroe, 33, and Mr Rossa's sons Filip, 15 and Dominic, seven, all from Glasgow, Scotland, were killed in the crash, along with Mr Woods. Miss McEnroe's seven-year-old son, Arran, survived his injuries after a workman jumped out of his Transit van and used a jack to smash the rear windscreen of Mr Rossa's Toyota Yaris and pulled him out from the burning vehicle. Recording conclusions of unlawful killing, Cumbria coroner Margaret Taylor said: "I found that Jaroslaw, Jade, Filip and Dominic died as a consequence of the unlawful acts of another driver."

Mr Woods, from Cambridgeshire, was found to be nearly four times over the legal drink-drive limit and a two-thirds empty bottle of gin was found in his car. The coroner was told that Mr Woods was previously seen drifting "erratically" between lanes and the hard shoulder as he travelled north, with one motorist describing how she was "terrified" as the driver of the Skoda repeatedly braked harshly in front of wagons and trucks. The Skoda later pulled into the hard shoulder and in a "controlled manoeuvre" from a stationary position then completed a U-turn across to lane three of the carriageway and drove southwards.

Detective Sergeant Deborah Story, of Cumbria Police's serious road collision investigation unit, told the inquest that Mr Woods would have been prosecuted on four counts of manslaughter had he lived. She said she noted that Mr Woods went from "putting himself" against larger vehicles where only he would be likely to be harmed to "putting himself" against smaller vehicles in which the "likelihood of harm to other people is significantly high". The officer went on: "My assessment of all of the evidence was that Mr Woods deliberately caused the collision.

"Had Mr Woods survived, regardless of any injuries, I would have sought four charges of manslaughter." She said hypothetical charges of murder were considered by detectives but not thought appropriate because of a lack of information that Mr Woods knew the family or anything that provided a link between them. Miss McEnroe's parents, Marie McEnroe and George McNellis, told the coroner they thought it was murder.

Ms McEnroe said: "It was definitely murder. That's the only word." Mr McNellis said: "He definitely murdered my daughter."

In a statement to the inquest, workman Gavin Walsh said he was a passenger in a Transit van travelling to Scotland which was behind the Toyota Yaris at the time of the collision.

He said he noticed a blue car travelling "extremely fast" and heading towards the Yaris which he said "had no time" to avoid the oncoming vehicle.