A MARRIED couple had their lives cut short after a former Swindon student who was three times the drink-drive limit crashed into their car head-on, killing them and himself.

John and Kathleen Barnes, who had been married for 54 years and had four children and six grandchildren, died after their usual Friday night bingo trip to Swindon ended in tragedy.

At an inquest on Tuesday, their family heard that the popular Fairford couple, both 74, were travelling along the A361 towards Lechlade on September 25 when 23-year-old Oliver Williams lost control of his car close to Upper Inglesham and hit them head-on.

Witnesses described how they saw Mr Williams, from Lechlade, driving his uninsured Ford Fiesta towards Highworth.

Sarah Surrey was in front of Mr and Mrs Barnes when Mr Williams drove past and knocked off her wing mirror.

Turning around and driving back to see if the other car had stopped, she saw the back of Mr Williams’ car in a hedge.

As she called the emergency services, her passenger Christopher Clarke went to help.

Mr Barnes was killed instantly and Mr Williams died at the scene, while Mrs Barnes suffered injuries which would ultimately prove fatal.

Another witness, Caroline Bayliss, recalled thinking “this is where I am going to die” as she drove behind the Barnes’ car and watched their Ford Fusion smash head on into Mr Williams’ car.

“There was no attempt to avoid the car in front of me,” she said in a statement. “The oncoming car was travelling very fast.”

Debris sprayed across the road but there were no skid marks which led investigating officer PC Julian Chambers to believe Mr Williams did not brake.

Mr Williams, from Gassons Road, had been drinking at the Crown Inn in Lechlade during the day. A toxicology report later found he was three times the legal alcohol limit.

“His alcohol level and the speed he was travelling at made him drift over toward the other car,” PC Chambers told Salisbury Coroner’s Court.

“Mr Barnes would not have had time to take evasive action so there would have been nothing he could’ve done.”

The young labourer had no history of drink-driving, and he may have been travelling quickly to catch up with friends who had said they could give him a lift to Swindon before changing their minds, his mother said.

She added that his insurance had run out in August after he failed to pay the monthly instalments. After Mr Williams died, scores of people paid tribute to the popular young man.

In a statement, Mr and Mrs Barnes’ son Martin told the coroner’s court: “Dad was killed almost immediately but mum was conscious at the scene and had to be told he had died.”

Mrs Barnes, already fragile from arthritis and scoliosis, was left with a broken neck and pelvis, as well as a punctured lung.

She was taken to Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital where her life balanced on a knife edge.

Surrounded day and night by her family, “she seemed to recover and her lungs got stronger, at times she could blink to show she was there,” said Martin, adding: “She put up such a good fight.”

Sadly, she died on October 21.

Their deaths came as a shock to people in Fairford, who knew the Aldsworth Close couple well, particularly for their long-standing business Barnes Removals.

Giving a verdict of death by road traffic collision, David Ridley, senior coroner for Wiltshire and Swindon, ruled there were no “defects in either vehicle that could’ve cause or contributed to the accident” but explained it was hard to know how fast Mr Williams was travelling without any skid marks.

He ruled that Mr Barnes died of “multiple traumas” from the collision while Mrs Barnes died of cardiac arrest and other injuries more than three weeks later, with her condition made worse by previous ill health.

Mr Williams died of “massive traumas” from the crash, the coroner added.

He concluded: “The driver was almost three times over the drink drive limit and his speed contributed to the deaths.”