CORONER Graham Short gave a heartfelt reminder to the family of Intel managing director John Woodget and his wife Judith that life is fragile after hearing fatigue was likely to have caused the car crash they died in.

The couple were on their way home from a family barbecue in Surrey when their silver Jaguar, being driven by garden designer Mrs Woodget, 65, drifted into a layby of a dual carriageway and crashed into the back of a parked lorry and its trailer just before 5pm on Sunday, July 19.

The impact of the collision, which happened on the westbound carriageway of the A303 west of Bullington Cross interchange, near Winchester, caused fatal head injuries, the inquest was told on Monday, and it is estimated they were travelling at the 70mph speed limit.

Mr Woodget, 64, who was based at the Swindon branch of Intel and was head of marketing for the company in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, died at the scene while Mrs Woodget died the following day with her family by her side at Southampton General Hospital.

Collision investigator PC Ed Wilson told the court in Winchester no emergency braking had been applied, there were no signs of sharp steering or any defects with the car. The road was also approaching a right hand bend, leaving him to believe that sleep and fatigue was the overriding factor.

Other examinations confirmed Mr Woodget had been asleep before the crash as his seat was in the reclined position.

Witness Emma Fell, of Andover, was driving behind the couple. “I saw the car go into the back of the lorry. I slammed on my brakes and looked around and there was a lot of debris,” she told the court.

“It was more of a drift than a sudden movement.”

Lorry driver Krasimir Kostadinov, from Bulgaria, had been parked in the layby for more than 28 hours as part of the mandatory 45-hour break he has to take each week.

He had a lorry full of biscuits heading to Andover, as well as a 19-tonne trailer attached to the back where there was a bunk bed. He was lying down when the impact of the crash threw him against the front and knocked him unconscious and he suffered a severe waist injury.

The court heard Mrs Woodget did not have any alcohol in her system.

The road was said to have been in a good state of repair, the weather was not an issue and the lorry was parked evenly within the layby.

The couple from Lockeridge near Marlborough had their dog in the back of the car and PC Wilson said this could have been a distraction.

But senior coroner Mr Short ruled the car would not have drifted if that was the case.

He concluded: “I therefore come to the more likely conclusion faced in this case which is fatigue or sleep.

"It is more likely than not this was someone who had a momentary lapse of consciousness.

“It seems likely that her husband was asleep therefore not in conversation to keep her awake.”

He concluded the couple died as a result of a traffic collision and said: “It only goes to show how fragile life is and how we take it for granted sometimes.”