THE reason why a car swerved violently and plummeted 50ft into a swollen river, killing an elderly couple, will remain a mystery, a coroner said.

Harold Douglas Elkins, 88, known as Doug, and his 68-year-old wife, Sheila, died when their Nissan Micra left the road in Swaledale, North Yorkshire, and crashed into the River Swale on October 6, last year.

An inquest yesterday heard that neither was wearing a seat- belt and a post-mortem examination showed that both drowned. Mrs Elkins' body was recovered from the car by firefighters and her husband's body was found two miles downstream the following day by Swaledale mountain rescue.

Mr Elkins, a retired Ministry of Defence official, had a serious heart condition but the post- mortem examination indicated that he had not suffered a heart attack while driving.

At the time of the accident, he was driving his wife from their home in Whitcliffe Grange, Richmond, to Reeth, where she was a relief warden at the Quaker Close sheltered housing complex.

Relatives described the couple, who had no children, as happily married and with no apparent problems.

The inquest at Richmond Town Hall was told that the alarm was raised by Kevin Eeles, the son of Mrs Elkins' niece, after she failed to report for work. Mr Eeles discovered the couple's S-registered car in the river near Marske Bridge.

Traffic Constable Steve Kirkbright, who investigated the crash, told the hearing that the car had no defects and was being driven within the 60mph limit. "This was not a high-speed collision," he said.

He described the deaths as "a tragic combination of the geography of the collision scene and the swollen nature of the river," which washed the car 60 metres downstream.

Mr Elkins was unlikely to have swerved to avoid an animal in the road, because his manoeuvre was more violent than the S-shaped track which that would have caused.

Recording verdicts of accidental death, North Yorkshire West coroner Geoff Fell said: "It is possible Mr Elkins had some cardiac event which caused him to lose control.

"It seems highly unlikely that we will ever know for sure what caused Mr Elkins to suddenly veer to his right."