THE GRIEVING son of a couple killed by a drink-driver in a

triple-fatal horror smash on the A38 has pleaded with other

motorists not to drink and drive.

Standing over the graves of his parents, Allan and Susan

Cowling, Mark Langdon said: “This is all down to

drink-driving.”

The Cowlings were driving home near Lee Mill a year ago when

Millbrook woman Sarah Cassell, travelling the wrong way in the

fast lane of the dual carriageway, ploughed head-on into

them.

Ms Cassell was nearly three times the legal limit after

drinking up to 14 vodkas in the six hours before her death, an

inquest in Plymouth heard yesterday.

A police accident investigator who examined the scene

concluded that Ms Cassell had missed no-entry signs, driven the

wrong way down a slip road at Lee Mill and ended up driving the

wrong way down the fast lane of the A38 towards Plymouth.

After several near-misses and a minor collision, she smashed

head-on into the Cowlings' car at an estimated combined speed

of 140mph, killing all three of them instantly.

After the inquest, in which the Cowlings were ruled to have

been unlawfully killed, Mr Langdon visited his parents' grave

at Wembury Church.

He said: “This verdict won't bring anyone back.

“This is all down to drink-driving, and my message to other

drivers is: 'Don't drink and drive'.

“How many families have been ruined by that one act?

“This last year has been a void.

“We buried our parents at Wembury – where I grew up – in a

beautiful spot, and I am here now to pay my respects.”

Mr Langdon added that Allan Cowling had been his stepfather

since he was four, saying: “He's the only dad I have ever

known.”

Dennis Collings was 'an old Army buddy' of Allan Cowling in

the 1st Devon and Dorset Regiment, and married Allan's

daughter, Tara.

Mr Collings said: “It is senseless, people drinking and

driving, and there should be zero tolerance for people who do

it. They should never be allowed to drive again.

“In my view it's the same as pointing a gun at someone and

pulling the trigger.

“Allan and Susan were completely blameless, and the verdict

of unlawful killing says it all.”

Allan and Susan Cowling, of Ivybridge, were killed along

with Sarah Cassell when Ms Cassell's red Daewoo Nexia collided

with their blue Skoda as she sped the wrong direction down the

Exeter-bound carriageway near Lee Mill last June.

One witness described the crash as “like a war zone”, and

said Ms Cassell would have had to drive past and ignore several

signs before the crash.

A post-mortem examination found that the Cowlings died at

the scene from multiple injuries as a result of the head-on

smash, about 100 metres past The Lyneham Inn.

Ms Cassell died from head and spinal injuries and alcohol

abuse.

Samples of the 33-year-old's blood, taken for a toxicology

report, showed that she had 219 milligrams of alcohol in her

system per 100 millilitres of blood – compared with a legal

limit of 80.

Mr and Mrs Cowling, aged 59 and 60 respectively, also had

blood samples taken. Both were negative.

Witnesses said Ms Cassell, a mother of three, had drunk

between 10 and 14 shots of vodka between 5pm and 11pm that

evening, but had not been planning to drive.

The inquest found that the alcohol in her system “would have

had a detrimental effect on her driving”.

Friends with whom she had spent the evening said Ms Cassell

told them that her daughter, Samantha, had been rushed to

hospital in Spain.

She went outside to make a phone call, but when they checked

15 minutes later she and her car had disappeared.

Ms Cassell's parents, Frank and Carol, told the inquest in a

written statement that Sarah had actually phoned them,

convinced something was wrong with the children who were

staying with them.

Carol reassured her that Samantha was safe in bed and even

joked that her grand-daughter's dirty foot was protruding from

the covers.

But friend Christopher Grant said: “Sarah was really worried

about her and wanted to go to the airport that night and get a

flight to Spain.

“We told her she had drunk too much, there were no flights

at night and she had no money, and that we would sort it out in

the morning.

“But she went outside to make a phone call, and when we

looked, she and the car were gone.”

Off-duty policeman Ben Larkham was the first to have a

terrifying near-miss as Ms Cassell sped towards him at an

estimated 70mph.

She then collided with Nicholas Magee's car, but kept

driving and next encountered night-shift factory worker Paul

Dixon, from Plympton, who was driving to work in his partner's

Honda Civic.

He realised at the last second that the oncoming car was not

on the opposite carriageway but in the fast lane of his

carriageway.

He said he heard a huge crash as a car that had been

travelling behind him pulled out to overtake, and collided

head-on with Ms Cassell's Daewoo.

As the cars flew spinning through the air, he closed his

eyes and smashed into the side of the Skoda.

Then, fearing he could be crushed by a following truck, he

dived out of the passenger door onto a grass verge.

Mr Dixon told the inquest: “It was like a war zone – bits of

car everywhere.”

He agreed the combined speed of the head-on collision would

have been around 140mph.

Police accident investigator Pc Paul Frost noted that the

speedometer on the Cowlings' vehicle was stuck at 55mph, but

said it was probably travelling at between 65mph and 70mph.

Royal Mail HGV driver John Walters told the inquest he had

been travelling on the other side of the A38, and had flashed

his lights and sounded his horn in a bid to alert Ms Cassell,

but she kept driving.

A policeman first to the scene checked both cars and agreed

that the three deaths would have been “pretty

instantaneous”.

Pc Frost said that the signs at Lee Mill warning drivers not

to go down the slip road were at the correct height and were

adequate, but had since been improved.

They consisted of two traffic islands, two lit reflective

signs and a '30' sign painted on the road coming the other way,

he said.

He said that in his opinion, the accident had been caused by

Ms Cassell being 2.75 times the drink-drive limit, and that had

she survived the crash she would probably have been charged

with causing death by dangerous driving.

Ruling that the Cowlings had been unlawfully killed and that

Ms Cassell's death had been accidental, Plymouth and West Devon

deputy coroner Andrew Cox said: “I'm in no doubt that the level

of alcohol is the reason Sarah Cassell failed to notice or take

heed of the signs and started to drive west on the eastbound

carriageway, and persisted after two glancing blows.

“Tragically the inevitable came to pass.”

He said: “There was absolutely nothing Mr Dixon could have

done and it was only by the greatest good fortune that he was

not killed or seriously injured.

“Sarah Cassell was unfit to drive. She knew this full well,

she was warned by friends and her decision to drive was

compounded by failing to see or heed warning signs.”

After the inquest, Mrs Cowling's daughter, Lisa Langdon,

said: “I am pleased with the outcome, a finding of unlawful

killing, because it wasn't an unavoidable accident.”

Stewart Cassell, brother of Sarah, said: “It is a tragic

loss. I'm very sorry for all parties.”

He said Sarah was “drunk and emotional”.

Her sister, Anna Stopher, said: “Sarah will leave behind

three children, who love and miss her very much.”

West Devon MP Gary Streeter said: “The junction is an awful

lot better now; at the time, it was ambiguous, but no system

can be put in to defeat a very drunk driver.”

He said the Cowlings had led exemplary lives and their loss

was a tragedy.

He added: “The Highways Agency's actions should solve the

junction problem, but the A38 is dangerous only because of

drivers.

“The State's responsibility is to ensure that it is as safe

as possible through upgrading, and motorists' responsibility is

to drive safely and soberly.”