A HEARTBROKEN family talked last night of serving a "life sentence" following the death of their footballer son.

Lee Hainsworth, 26, who played for Shildon Football Club, was killed while making a phone call to his girlfriend Leslie Howe from his car, parked in a lay-by.

She heard the sound of the crash which flipped Mr Hainsworth's car upside down.

Mr Hainsworth, who lived with his parents, Margaret, 48, and Dave, 50, in Newton Walk, Stockton, died from a fractured skull and brain damage following a collision between his stationary VW Golf turbo and a car driven by Kathryn Graham.

Moments before, Miss Graham had overtaken an Arriva bus being driven by Joseph Robson along the A177 at Thorpe Larches, near Stockton.

Mr Robson told Durham Police that as Miss Graham's Passat estate returned to the inside lane, after passing him, it appeared to drift into the lay-by.

Police found the Passat's cruise control switched on at 70mph.

Mr Robson told an inquest held in Middlesbrough, yesterday, that the accident happened on a dark night last February, but Mr Hainsworth's car was visible, parked with its lights showing.

Miss Graham, of Cramlington, Northumberland, could give police no explanation for the accident, but told officers she had been looking in her rear view mirror, concentrating on the bus behind her, immediately prior to the collision taking place.

Miss Graham is to appear before Consett magistrates next week, charged with careless driving. She did not attend the inquest at which Deputy Teesside Coroner Gordon Hetherington recorded a verdict of accidental death.

Mrs Hainsworth said after yesterday's hearing: "He was a quality lad. We are absolutely gutted. Lee's dad, his sisters Andrea and Emma and myself are now serving a life sentence because Lee is no longer here, sharing our lives."