'Cruel twist of fate' killed motorcyclist in Welshpool crash

Melanie Roseanne Lakin, 29, died on the A458 just outside Welshpool when returning from a day out with her boyfriend Oliver Dudley.

At an inquest into her death, Powys Coroner Andrew Barkley recorded a conclusion of death by road traffic collision.

Miss Lakin, a radiographer, who had experience of riding bikes having qualified for her licence in 2008, had been on her way back from Bala Lake on June 1 with Mr Dudley on separate bikes, when they came up to a line of traffic approaching the Raven Roundabout in Welshpool.

The inquest heard how Miss Lakin, of Tamworth, lost control of her bike as she approached the rear of a green Toyota Yaris, skidding before coming into contact with the vehicle.

Pc Timothy Tritton, a road accident investigator from West Mercia Police, said the impact had been minor but Miss Lakin had then fallen off her bike and landed with her head on the opposite side of the carriageway.

Mr Barkley was told how a BMW X5 driven by Julian Liddiatt had then struck Miss Lakin.

Giving evidence Mr Liddiatt said he had no time to react to avoid Miss Lakin.

He said: "It was a split second, I saw something black out of the corner of my eye just to the right, the front side of the car was unsteady and then I swerved to avoid it and went up onto the grass verge."

During his evidence Pc Tritton said: "I have not found any evidence that he could have done anything other than he has."

Stephen Jones, who was in an Audi A3 travelling behind Miss Lakin said he had seen the bike wobbling before the incident.

In a statement read to the inquest he said: "Almost immediately I could see it was out of control. The rider appeared to be fighting with the handle bars, moving their arms rapidly backwards and forwards. It was more the bike in control than the rider.

"As I watched the rider was flipped from the bike, the rider went up in the air and came back down on the road in a backwards swan dive."

Asked for his conclusion on the incident, Pc Tritton said: "It is such an unfortunate, tragic accident. Had Melanie been in a car it would have been just slight bumper contact but because she was on a motorcycle she was much more vulnerable than if she had been in a car.

"There has been a compression in the traffic flow and there is no real reason for it. That created a ripple effect throughout the traffic.

"That compression of traffic has reduced the amount of time she has to brake and when she has braked the bike has become unstable. There was a very minor collision but the tragedy of it is she has fallen to the right and not the left. "

Recording his conclusion Mr Barkley said it had been a "cruel twist of fate" that Miss Lakin's bike had fallen one way not the other.