DRUGS, excessive speed and a small amount of alcohol are the combination of factors that led to the death of Max Pearson in Savernake Forest, an inquest has heard.

The popular 21-year-old, of Maurice Way, Marlborough, was travelling at more than 72mph, nearly five times the 15mph speed limit, along the private Grand Avenue road, when his car spun out of control going over a dip and collided with two trees just after 5.30am on November 23 last year.

He was fatally injured and pronounced dead at the scene, while his four teenage passengers Sam Parrington, Emily Rodriguez-Martin, 18, Louie Lamb, 18, and Archie Tuxford, 16, suffered serious injuries.

The hearing held yesterday at Salisbury Coroner’s Court was told that in the hours leading up to Max’s death, he had driven to the Black Swan nightclub in Bristol with Natasha Laurie, 18, of Five Stiles Road, Marlborough, and another person.

When asked if Max had been drinking that night, Natasha told assistant coroner Ian Singleton that Max had only drunk Coke and 'he was very against drink driving'. She also said she didn’t think the former student of St John’s School, Marlborough, had taken drugs but admitted she later saw him inhale helium at the forest.

However, pathologist Dr Lawrence John, who carried out the post-mortem examination, found Max had cocaine, ketamine and 19milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood in his body. The legal limit is 80mgs

They left the club at 3am after Max, who worked as a powder coater, complained of stomach pain. They had reached Chiseldon when Natasha received a phone call from Sam Parrington, now 20, of White Horse Road, asking if they could give him and some others a lift from Savernake Forest to Marlborough after a night of partying in the woodland.

Despite not feeling well, Max, drove to the forest to take them home. He was about to start his third trip ferrying the teenagers to Marlborough when the tragedy happened.

Archie Tuxford, who was 15 at the time and was sitting in the back of the car, told police officer Annabel Martin-Mulholland that Max was ‘fed up, not angry’ and ‘felt his driving was of someone who wanted to go home’.

Sam, who was a front seat passenger, recalls Max driving ‘too fast’ and when the car began to bounce and swerve he shouted 'no Max' and then only remembers waking up in hospital two days later.

A tearful Emily Rodriguez-Martin, from Axford, told the coroner she believes Max was going 80mph before the crash. “The car was shaking where we were going so fast,” she said.

She remembers the car lifting in the air and the front end hitting the ground before they started to swerve and then she lost consciousness.

Louie found himself and Archie had been thrown out of the vehicle and phoned the ambulance at 5.40am. They went over to the car and could see Emily was trapped. "Me and Archie went to the car to get Emily out. Sam and Max were unresponsive. Max never woke up," he said in his witness statement.

The car was extensively damaged from the impact with the tree. Police have estimated from tyre markings that Max was travelling in his Renault Clio at more than 72mph on the 15mph straight gravelly stretch of road, which they say was riddled with potholes and slippery from wet leaves.

In the witness statements read aloud to the court, none of his friends had ever had concerns about Max speeding or his ability to drive when they had previously been in the car with him. Natasha and Emily also told the coroner in the past year that they had known Max they had never seen him take drugs before.

Mr Singleton recorded a conclusion of death by road traffic collision. He said: “Max had been out with friends in Bristol and on his way home he was phoned and asked to take number of people home.

“The first two trips from the Savernake Forest were unremarkable. On the last return journey he accelerated to a speed in the range of 72mph and this on the balance of probabilities was excessive.

“He was unable to see the road in front of him in sufficient time. I find it lifted off the ground and caused the vehicle to go to the right hand side. He lost control and collided with two trees causing excessive damage.

“His driving abilities would have been effected by the consumption of alcohol, cocaine and ketamine some time before the accident.”