Man who drove wrong way on M6 would have been charged over four deaths, inquest hears

An RAF pilot who killed a family in a head-on crash after driving the wrong way on a motorway would have been charged with manslaughter had he survived, an inquest heard. Richard Woods, 40, drove 1.1 miles on the northbound carriageway of the M6 near Tebay, Cumbria, for at least 57 seconds. Several motorists swerved to avoid him on the afternoon of October 15 last year.

Jaroslaw Rossa, 42, also attempted to avoid crashing into the Skoda Fabia driven by Mr Woods. 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.

Mr Woods also died. 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. He pulled the boy out from the burning vehicle.

The family were returning home from a trip to Legoland in Windsor when the crash happened between junction 38 and 39 at 4.05pm. Mr Woods, from Cambridgeshire[1], was found to be nearly four times over the legal drink-drive limit. A two-thirds empty bottle of gin was found in his car.

HM Coroner for Cumbria Margaret Taylor heard that Mr Woods had previously been seen drifting 'erratically' between lanes and the hard shoulder as he travelled north. One motorist said she was 'terrified' as the Skoda driver repeatedly braked harshly in front of large vehicles. The Skoda later stopped on the hard shoulder and in a "controlled manoeuvre" completed a U-turn across to lane three of the carriageway.

He then continued driving in the wrong direction until the crash. 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 if he had survived. 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 charges of murder had been considered by detectives.

These were 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 added: "He definitely murdered my daughter."

Workman rescued boy from burning car

Workman Gavin Walsh said in a statement to the inquest that he was a passenger in a Transit van travelling to Scotland which was behind the Toyota Yaris when the crash happened. 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. Mr Walsh jumped out of the van towards the front of the Yaris which was "already engulfed in flames".

He said: "I could hear screams coming from the car. "I used a jack to smash the rear windscreen and I saw a little boy in the back seat who appeared to be stuck but possibly alive. I was able to pull him from his seat and took him away from the car.

"The boy was conscious and breathing. We spoke about football and what school he went to, I was just trying to keep him awake. "We really did try, I can assure everyone we did our best.

We only had minimal time. I saved a life that day and I hope never to witness anything like that again. "God bless you Arran, I have never stopped thinking about you.

I hope we will meet again one day and I will give you a massive hug."

'Our lives will never be the same'

A statement from the mother of Filip and Dominic and the ex-wife of Mr Rossa, Kamila, was read out at the inquest in her presence. She said Mr Rossa, known as Jarek, was born in Poland where they became a couple and went on to have three boys. He loved playing computer games and had "lots of friends", she said.

He worked at the Wagamama restaurant in Silverburn, Glasgow. She said she last saw her sons when they left for their father's house on October 10 for a holiday break. Mr Rossa sent her photographs of them at Legoland on October 14.

She said she was "devastated" at the deaths and added: "Our lives will never be the same. I am heartbroken at the passing of my beloved angels Filip and Dominic." Filip was "very intelligent", "very sensitive", and "full of love" and had an ambition to study chemistry at Glasgow University, she said.

She added that Dominic loved Pokemon and dinosaurs and was "interested in many things in the world around him". He dreamt of adopting a penguin one day, she said, and was "always smiling, extremely caring and always thinking of others first". Ms McEnroe said her daughter, a spa therapist, had been in a relationship with Mr Rossa for about two-and-a-half years.

She said Miss McEnroe was a "brilliant mother" to her only child, was "really happy" with Mr Rossa and it was "lovely chaos" when all the boys were playing together. Ms McEnroe told the inquest that "life changed forever that day". She went on: "I miss Jade every single day.

I want to know why? Why them? Arran keeps us going every single day."

The inquest will be concluded on Thursday with Ms Taylor delivering her conclusions.

Last week at a separate inquest she concluded that Mr Woods's death was suicide.

Numerous searches on the subject of suicide were found on his mobile phone, the court was told.

References

1. ^ Cambridgeshire (www.cambridge-news.co.uk)