THE girlfriend of a crash victim told of the moment she found her boyfriend dead by the roadside.

Ceri Morgan, driving on the A272 at Hadlow Down, slowed as she approached the accident scene.

She was shocked to discover that one of the victims was her boyfriend.

Sales director Russell Bernard, 35, had died instantly when his silver BMW overturned.

Ceri told an Eastbourne inquest that she recognised his car, which had left the road and was in a field.

She said: "I knew it was Russell's BMW. I went to see what had happened and saw him hanging upside down in the seat. Then I went back to the road. I had no idea how it happened."

The couple had driven to a nearby pub in Mr Bernard's BMW on December 12 last year to pick up a car which she had left there overnight.

They were driving back to the house they shared at Britts Farm Road, Buxted, when the accident happened.

Crash investigator PC Michael Skinner said Mr Bernard and the driver of a Mercedes travelling in the same direction tried to overtake at the same time.

In a bid to avoid the Mercedes, Mr Bernard had struck a verge, then veered into the side of a Ford Fiesta.

The Fiesta also overturned but the driver escaped with minor injuries.

East Sussex coroner Alan Craze recorded a verdict of accidental death.

He said: "It must have been harrowing for Ceri Morgan, who was at the scene, and for all those concerned."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.