FOUR people were unlawfully killed due to the gross negligence of a driver going the wrong way along the M4, a Newport inquest ruled yesterday.

Lee Maggs, 26, Sam Case, 19, both from Newport, and James Stafford, 69, and his wife Bridget, 70, from Surrey, were killed after a crash at 3.14am on September 17 last year.

Newport 18-year-old Christopher Beresford, a disqualified driver, was driving a red Ford Mondeo west along the M4's eastbound carriageway, 1.75 miles from the Coldra roundabout when he collided with a Volvo 940 driven by Mr Stafford.

The inquest ruled Mr Beresford, who was driving at an average speed of 86 mph on the M4, died as a result of his own misadventure. All five died at the scene from their injuries.

The inquest heard the crash's only survivor, James Bunnett, described Mr Beresford's driving as "mad and insane".

After joining the M4 at the Coldra Mr Beresford passed 12 other oncoming vehicles before colliding head-on with the Volvo. The jury at Gwent coroner's court heard neither driver hit the breaks.

PC Christopher Goddard, a collision investigator, said the combined impact speed was 160 miles per hour. The Mondeo was travelling between 81-84 mph and the speedometer of the Volvo was stuck on 78 mph.

When PC Goddard got to the scene at 5am both cars were in the motorway's middle lane and the Mondeo was upside down.

The jury saw CCTV of the crash's build up as well as photographs of the aftermath. Motorway cameras showed the Mondeo driving the wrong way along the carriageway passing other vehicles. reaching speeds of up to 113 mph on the M4.

Before the accident a police car had pursued the Mondeo from Parc Seymour, Penhow, of speeds of up to 126 mph, but the pursuit ended at the Coldra. Mr Beresford had taken cocaine, but the post mortem report said that it had been some time before and would not have affected his driving.

Police pursued the car after reports a group of men were acting suspiciously in the area.

The jury took around 30 minutes to deliver the verdicts but before doing so Gwent coroner David Bowen said a lot of criticism had been aimed at Gwent Police in their pursuit, but little was said against Mr Beresford.

The coroner said when Mr Beresford realised there was no-one following he could have pulled over: "He could have done a U-turn and corrected himself."

After the hearing, members of the Stafford family shook hands and embraced members of the other families involved.

Lee Maggs' father Robert said he was happy with the verdict: "I offer my condolences to Mr and Mrs Stafford's sons and their entire family. I just want to apologise."

Christopher Beresford's uncle Carl Haynes said he regretted his nephew's actions that night.

"We would like to apologise to the families and all affected by this. Our deepest sympathy goes out to the Stafford family and their friends. We wish to now finally lay our sons to rest," he said.

Kerstin Scheel, a solicitor representing the Stafford family, issued a statement on their behalf: "It's impossible to adequately describe the terrible sense of sadness we feel knowing that our much loved parents died in such tragic circumstances.

"We believe that there are very important lessons to be learned. Lessons that we hope for our parents sake may save lives in the future."