A FATHER of two who left South Yorkshire for a new life in the Canary Isles died in a car crash after a night of drink and drug-taking, an inquest heard.
Bartender Simon Bywater, aged 35, was speeding in his boss's Range Rover on the GC1 motorway to Las Palmas when he failed to negotiate a bend, a Sheffield inquest heard.
He ploughed through slip-road barriers and plunged down a 15ft drop before t
he car landed on its roof.
The court heard Mr Bywater died almost immediately, having suffered head and chest injuries.
Mr Bywater - who had lived on Cypress Road, Kendray, but left Barnsley six years ago - was driving home in the morning after taking cocaine and boozing at a friend's birthday party.
Pathologist Alfredo Walker said he was almost four times the drink drive limit and had taken "significant" amounts of cocaine.
Witness Tanja Berg told police she was doing about 55mph - in a 50mph zone - when the Range Rover overtook at such speed she "felt the wind" from it.
The car then started to "wobble" before it went out of control and crashed, she said.
Mr Bywater lived with his girlfriend of 21 years, Julie Thompson, and two daughters in Puerto Rico in the Mogan area, the inquest heard.
Miss Thompson told officials her partner was a heavy drinker who would drive after boozing and who also took cocaine with friends.
At the time of the crash on November 22 last year she was visiting friends in Barnsley.
She last spoke to Mr Bywater on the phone the night before, she said, when he was out celebrating a friend's birthday.
When she rang his mobile the next morning there was no answer, and later that morning the phone was answered by the Spanish police.
The court heard the couple both worked in the Tropicana bar in Puerto Rico, and had a 'good life'.
Coroner Chris Dorries said there was no evidence anyone else was involved in the crash.
He added: "Mr Bywater died in a tragic accident - there was no more to it than that."
He recorded a narrative verdict that Simon Bywater died as a result of injuries sustained when his car left the motorway and crashed.
READ MOREMore Barnsley newsMain news indexLatest sport.Readers' LettersHolidays and TravelCheck out the very latest on South Yorkshire's roads - including live traffic cameras on Sheffield's commuter routes - with our Traffic sectionThe full article contains 417 words and appears in Sheffield Star newspaper.
