Drink-drive soldier's fatal crash

David Liddon was not in the habit of wearing a seatbelt, the inquest heard

A soldier who had escaped unscathed from a roadside bomb in Iraq was killed in a car crash back in the UK just months later, an inquest has heard.

Pte David Liddon, 20, from Tylorstown, Rhondda, died while over the drink-drive limit at 85mph on the A34 in Oxfordshire in April.

He had not been wearing his seatbelt. Three passengers survived the crash.

The coroner at the Oxford hearing, Nicolas Gardiner, recorded a verdict of accidental death.

He said it appeared Pte Liddon would have survived if he had been properly restrained.

The inquest heard the soldier, who had survived a blast in 2007 from a roadside bomb in Basra which shattered his vehicle's windscreen, had gone out on the night of his death.

He had spent the evening in pubs and clubs in Abingdon, Oxfordshire with friends.

Natasha Small, one of the three passengers from the car, told the court Pte Liddon had had "one or two pints" as far as she could remember.

She and friends Kevin Gill and Sophie Chalmers had put seatbelts on when they got in the car, but Pte Liddon did not.

Police found the car was being driven at 85mph down the 70mph A34

The crash happened on the A34 between Abingdon and Drayton just before 0300 BST on 26 April.

Miss Small told the inquest: "We said he should but he said he did not feel comfortable wearing it."

A statement read out from Miss Chalmers said: "We all put our seatbelts on except David.

"Tasha and I told him to put it on.

"He replied saying he never wore one, he said he did not care what happened to him."

Both women were seriously injured in the crash.

The court heard Pte Liddon was thrown from the car and died almost instantly on the carriageway.

A police investigation found one of the car's rear tyres had been punctured by a screw but had not significantly deflated, and was only a contributing factor rather than a cause of the crash.

Recording his verdict, the coroner said: "He lost control of his vehicle which overturned and he was thrown from it - contributory factors being that he was not using a seatbelt and had been drinking.

"It appears to me that if he was wearing a seatbelt he would have been restrained and would not have suffered any more serious injuries than the other occupants of the car."

Speaking after the inquest, Pte Liddon's grandmother Christine Harris said: "He had always wanted to join the services and everybody liked him.

"He was a ladies' man, a young single guy and free as a bird.

"He loved his job and we were all very proud of him."

Army friend Pte Michael Widdrington, 23, added: "He never had a bad word to say about anybody. He was one of those few people who would say 'good morning' and mean it.

"He would ask you how you were getting on and he was sincere about it."