MORE THAN 30 friends and close family members attended a testing inquest hearing today for 'tragic' 20-year-old Lewis Mangan.

The lifelong Oxford United fan's mum, dad, brothers and sister heard how he died after crashing his car near Wantage in the early hours of Friday, September 30.

Coroner Darren Salter told Oxford Coroner's Court that Lewis, a nursing home chef in his village of Letcombe Regis, had been nearly three times the drink-drive limit.

The coroner also read a witness statement from a woman who said she watched his car flip over 'two or three times'.

Oxford Mail:

Lewis, a former pupil at King Alfred's Academy in Wantage known to friends as Mounge, was driving from Wantage towards Faringdon on the A417 just after midnight on the 30th.

A toxicology report later found he had 219mg of alcohol per litre of blood - more than two-and-a-half times the 80mg limit.

In a statement read to the inquest, West Challow resident Sarah Hinds, who lives by the Challow road bridge over the railway, said she was having a last cigarette before going to bed at 12.15am when she heard the sound of a car 'going really fast' towards her.

As the silver Renault Clio came over the bridge, she said: "It was on the wrong side of the road and I could hear the brakes screeching.

"Before catching the verge the car was wobbling like he was trying to get control of it."

Oxford Mail:

Tributes left for Lewis Mangan by friends at the scene of the crash on the A417.

Lewis was unable to regain control of the car and it slipped into a ditch on its side, still going at high speed, smashed into a tree and rebounded into the road.

Pathologist Elisabeth Soilleux said he suffered severe traumatic head injury and would have been killed instantly.

Mrs Hinds, who witnessed the whole incident, called 999 and workers on the railway beneath the bridge quickly came to the scene.

PC Thomas Coyne, the first police officer on the scene, checked Lewis's neck for a pulse but could not find one.

Police later discovered the car's speedometer was stuck on 47mph, but forensic collision investigator Kevin Spiller said the car was probably traveling much faster on the 50mph road.

Oxford Mail:

A Lewis Mangan montage made by friends after his death.

Thames Valley Roads Policing team said there was nothing wrong with the car which would have contributed to the crash, and a report by Oxfordshire County Council found nothing wrong with the road layout or signage.

Mr Salter recorded a verdict of 'road traffic collision' attributed to excessive speed and intoxication.

But he also shared his condolences with Lewis's family, saying: "I have seen the tributes online and in news reports, and he was clearly a very much loved and popular young man."

Oxford Mail:

At the next Oxford United match after Lewis's death, friends chanted his name to honour him.

After the hearing, one of Lewis's best friends, Joe Sellwood, 21, from Didcot, said: "He was just a lovely geezer.

"He wouldn't hurt anyone, he was always there for you. If he have £5 left he would always split it in half with you."

He said he hoped the inquest would provide closure for Lewis's family but added: "His name will forever go on in my heart, if that's through football or going out with all of his mates."

After the collision, friends from Wantage, Didcot, Abingdon and Oxford laid tributes at the scene of the crash.

Hundreds of people crowded the streets of Wantage dressed in Oxford United colours and carrying banners on the day of his funeral at the parish church, October 14.

Oxford Mail: