NOVICE driver Christopher Bieda told police he lost control of his car after swerving to miss a rabbit which ran into his path.

"I just wish to hell I had hit it now," he told a police officer investigating a crash in which his rear seat passenger, Helen Sanderson, 18, of Avon Grove, Billingham, died.

But police officers told an inquest at Middlesbrough they found no brake marks at the scene.

Evidence indicated that the 19-year-old's car continued in a straight line with all four wheels still turning after coming off the Seal Sands link road, Billingham, on a left hand bend.

It then flipped over and rolled at least four times before coming to rest. Miss Sanderson sustained multiple injuries and probably died instantantly.

Deputy Teesside Coroner Gordon Hetherington yesterday heard evidence that other friends travelling in the car had asked newly-qualified driver Mr Bieda to slow down.

Mr Bieda, of Driffield Way, Billingham, told PC Stephen Henderson: "I was driving towards Seals Sands doing about 70mph. I came to a left-hand bend and took my foot off the accelerator because I knew I was going too fast."

It was then, he claimed, that a small animal the size of a rabbit ran into the road.

But colleague PC Michael Woodhouse said: "Driver error was the cause of this tragic road accident.''

Mr Hetherington said accident investigators had cast doubt on the story and that the creature had not been seen by Helen's boyfriend, sitting on the back seat with her.

He said Helen's death in January this year was an accident.

Mr Bieda was earlier this year fined £1,000 by magistrates with nine penalty points put on his licence after being convicted of careless driving. He had only passed his driving test five months before the fatal crash.