A YOUNG mum died after her mother-in-law lost control of the car they were in after a pre-Christmas family gathering.

Mystery surrounds the crash which killed Anna Grace Rogers, 29, on the A361 between East Lyng and Burrowbridge.

Anna, of Cornwall, her husband, Simon, and their son, Harvey, two, were being driven to her parents’ home in Middlezoy after a family party in Wiveliscombe on December 22 last year, an inquest heard.

Perry Guess, partner of Anna’s sister, was in the car behind and said: “I saw the car veer slightly over thewhite line and rather quickly down the verge into a tree.”

Mr Guess helped Anna’s mother- in-law, Sandra, out of the car, while Simon crawled through a window, Anna got out on her own and they freed Harvey.

Mr Guess told the inquest: “Sandra appeared dazed. I asked how Anna was – she replied ‘OK’.

She seemed relatively fine.”

He became concerned when Anna lay down beside the road, and a passing ambulance stopped and took her and Harvey to Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton.

During the journey to Taunton Anna, who had been asleep at the time of the crash, appeared “tired” with “slurred speech”, and said she felt cold and sick.

Her husband spent the night at his son’s bedside in Musgrove, but was called at 6am the next day to be told his wife’s condition had deteriorated and she was being moved to Frenchay Hospital in Bristol, but she died before she could be operated on.

A police examination of the car and the accident scene concluded there were no faults that could have caused the accident.

West Somerset Coroner Michael Rose said the reason the car left the road remained a mystery.

It may have been caused by strong winds or Sandra falling asleep at the wheel and then over-steering to correct the car’s direction, he said.

Mr Rose concluded that the cause of death was accidental with the medical cause being traumatic brain injury due to a road traffic accident.