Callow Hill fatal crash driver 'drove erratically'

Gemma Hobbins, Keegan and Cody Smith were from the Kidderminster and Stourport area

An inquest has heard how a vehicle involved in a fatal collision that killed a four-year-old boy and two women had been seen travelling "dangerously" and "erratically".

Gemma Hobbins, 32, died on the A456 at Callow Hill, Worcestershire, with her son Keegan Fettis and 28-year-old Cody Smith on 10 May.

An inquest heard from other motorists who were driving in convoy with them.

The driver of the car they collided with said they "came out of nowhere".

During the inquest at Worcestershire Coroner's Court, the coroner David Reid said the women, who were in a Ford Focus, had met up with other drivers earlier that evening and agreed to travel together along the bypass.

Daniel Buckley, who was travelling behind them, described Ms Hobbins doing "a dangerous overtake" and driving "too close" to another car in front of them before the crash.

He said he lost sight of the car before he came across the accident and in a later police interview denied racing.

Martin Butler, who was also in the convoy, said he "felt like the [Focus] car was trying to pressure" him into driving faster.

Another passenger, who had been passing in the opposite direction and was not identified by the court, described his mum "gasping" when she saw the speed the Focus was driving at along the A456.

'Wall of flames'

A statement was also read out from another motorist, Mia Bradbury, who arrived at the scene later and found the Ford Focus and the Audi A7 it had collided with.

She said: "I heard a very loud bang and saw a sudden wall of flames, that was easily as tall as the houses.

"When I got there I saw the Audi driver crawling on the floor who said, 'It hit me, it came out of nowhere'.

"The other car was engulfed in flames - we couldn't get near it, we couldn't even tell what type of car it was."

Three men and a teenage boy who were arrested in connection with the crash will now face no further action, West Mercia Police said.

The inquest continues.