Husband and wife died in Shropshire crash with police van after he likely fell asleep at the wheel, inquest told
A couple died in a head on collision with a police van after he likely fell asleep at the wheel, an inquest heard.
John Andrew Jackson, 60, and Nerys Dwynwen Jackson, 57, of Bwlchgwyn, Wrexham, died when their car was involved in a head-on collision on the A458 near Morville on Saturday, December 9.
Their daughter Ffion, who was in the car at the time and suffered serious injuries attended their inquest at Shirehall, Shrewsbury.
Also in attendance was crime scene investigator Bethan Davies, who was the driver of the police van. She was in a wheelchair.
The inquest was told that Mrs Jackson had been working in Ascension Island in the Atlantic, but had flown home and was to be picked up from Brize Norton air base in Oxfordshire by her husband and daughter.
The night before, Mr Jackson had been tidying their home ready for her return. His daughter went to bed at around 11pm but did not get to sleep until around 1am.
She said that she thought her dad was still "pottering" in the house at that time.
He woke her at 4am for the trip to Oxfordshire and they picked up Mrs Jackson, who was in the back seat for the journey home.
They stopped off at a service station, and Mr Jackson told his daughter that he was still "fine" to drive.
Sadly, however, an "almost head on" collision took place between their family Skoda Octavia and the Ford Transit police van.
Witnesses observed the Skoda carry on straight instead of steering around a bend on the road, around half way between Much Wenlock and Bridgnorth.
One motorist, Ronald Ball, overtook the Skoda shortly before the collision due to it being driven "erratically" in front of him.
He passed the police van and said he thought "thank god" that the police were there and hopefully the Skoda would be stopped.
But he then heard an "almighty bang".
Mr and Mrs Jackson died at the scene after the crash, which happened at about 10.15am.
Investigations found that neither Mr Jackson or Ms Davies had any drugs or alcohol in their system, and that, while it was raining, Mr Jackson's tyres had enough tread on to be able to navigate standing water in the road.
Dash-cam footage from the police van was also viewed by investigators, who found that there was nothing Miss Davies could have done to avoid the collision.
Detective Sergeant Julie Lyman suggested that Mr Jackson could have fallen into "micro sleep", where he dozed off for a split second.
John Ellery, senior coroner for Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, said: "I think it is more likely than not that he drifted across the road into the path of Miss Davies during a moment of micro sleep and lost control, causing, catastrophically, the deaths of his wife and himself and injuries to Miss Davies and Ffion.
"I offer my condolences to you," he said to Ffion and her family in attendance as he recorded a conclusion of deaths caused by road traffic collision.