AN ILLEGAL drug was found in the body of a young man who died in a crash last year, an inquest heard.

Coran Finbar Bogue - who was due to be a father - died on a crash along the A4810, near Magor, at around 5.45am on February 22 after his car veered into oncoming traffic. An inquest heard yesterday that toxicologist tests carried out during the post mortem examination found “a level of ketamine” on the 23-year-old’s system.

Senior coroner for Gwent Wendy James said the class B drug can cause drowsiness.

Ms James said: “The ketamine would account to his erratic driving at the time of the crash. He drove when it was unsafe for him to do so.”

The senior coroner said there was nothing the lorry driver could have done to avoid the collision as Mr Bogue “suddenly and unexpectedly” swerved into the other lane.

The coroner concluded that Mr Bogue died as a result of a road traffic collision and said that the post-mortem examination report found that Mr Bogue died of multiple injuries.

Ms James said: “He was a hard-working, young man who had been working 10-hour shifts as he was trying to build a life for him and his family.”

The inquest heard that Mr Bogue, from Newport, had been working at a warehouse in Chepstow since October. His father Thomas Bogue said that, at the time, Mr Bogue’s girlfriend was pregnant and was in America to see family. Since then, she has had a son.

Mr Bogue said he didn’t consider his son to be a “particularly safe driver”, as prior to the fatal crash, he had had two similar accidents – including one just a few days before.

He added: “He was always an anxious lad and, for some time, he had been taking ketamine as self-medication.”

Mr Bogue told the inquest that, when the crash happened, his son was on his back home from Chepstow.

He continued: “We are devastated.

“I can only applaud the actions of the truck driver who took avoidance actions.”

In a statement, lorry driver Paul Jones said he was driving at around 45mph and on seeing the Vauxhall Corsa approaching, he went over to the verge as the car was getting very “close”

but that, in the last few seconds, Mr Bogue must have pulled into his lane.

In a statement read out in court, Gwent Police’s collision investigation officer PC Parker, who attended the scene of the crash, said Mr Bogue’s vehicle drove into the other lane before colliding with the lorry. No defects were found in the vehicles or in the road that could have contributed to the crash, the officer added.