FOLLOWING the Wiltshire & Swindon coroner’s verdict into Anna Kirsopp-Lewis’s death, the family’s solicitor issued this statement.

Claire Roantree, a partner in law firm Boyes Turner in Reading, who is representing the family, said: “Anna and Oscar were irreplaceable to their family, whose lives have been torn about by this tragic and avoidable event.

“They lost a loving and much-loved mother, wife, sister and daughter in Anna. In Oscar, they lost a son, brother, nephew and grandson who would have been loved and adored.

“The family are relieved that a verdict of unlawful killing has been recorded. They do not and will never think that Anna’s and Oscar’s deaths were an accident.

“Ian Barton made a deliberate decision that day to drive at shockingly high speeds in appalling weather conditions and into the path of oncoming vehicles.

“He put everyone’s life at risk, without thought of the consequences. The family share the coroner’s view that his driving was aggressive, audacious and abhorrent”.

“Anna's only mistake was to be on the wrong stretch of road at the wrong time, with tragic consequences which her family will have to live with for the rest of their lives.

“You cannot put into words just how shocking the footage shown at the inquest of Mr Barton’s driving was.

“People can make mistakes and errors of judgement, but there is a gulf between that and the conscious and deliberate decision that Mr Barton took that day in driving with complete disregard for the lives of everyone else on the road.

“The family are very disappointed that this inquest was not about Oscar's death as well as Anna's. In their view, Oscar was due to be born within days and was a full-term baby. Because he was not born, there is no record of him anywhere.

“Anna and Oscar’s family believe that is wrong and that the law needs to be changed to enable other full-term babies like Oscar - who are ready to be born - to be recognised as the people they would have been and for it to be understood how they died.

“They feel that Oscar, and other babies like him and their families, deserve no less and that they do not deserve to be invisible and lost in the system.

“In the family’s view, the category of bereaved people is too small and should be widened to reflect family life. A family can love an unborn child – but the law does not recognise this. They think that should change.

“Anna’s family will be making no further comment at this stage as they continue to try and rebuild their lives following a loss from which they will never fully recover.”