Family of four killed by suicidal pilot deliberately driving wrong way down M6

A Glasgow family was killed on the M6 when a former RAF pilot drove drunk on the wrong side of the motorway, an inquest found.

Jaroslaw Rossa, 42 died along with his two sons Filip, 15, and Dominic, seven, when Richard Woods, 40, crashed his Skoda into them near Tebay services, Cumbria.

Jade McEnroe, 33, Mr Rossa’s partner, who was travelling in the car on their way back from Legoland, also died at the scene. Her seven-year-old son Arran was airlifted to a hospital with serious injuries.

The brothers’ heartbroken mother Kamila said their ‘lives will never be the same again’ after the tragic loss.

Now, a coroner has ruled that Woods drove his car on purpose into the family’s Toyota Yaris on October 15 last year.

His death was due to suicide following ‘multiple injuries,’ Margaret Taylor, an assistant coroner at Cockermouth Coroner’s Court, ruled.

Other drivers said the Toyota had no time to react in the seconds before the sudden smash.

What is known about the last moments before the M6 crash

Woods, from Cambridgeshire, had served in the RAF for 14 years, the inquest heard.

At the time of the fatal crash, he was working as a flight instructor for BAE Systems.

He had been experiencing ‘a number of stressors in his life’ and he had a history of alcohol abuse and anxiety, the coroner said.

Colleagues at a work conference near Preston, Lancashire, suspected he had been drinking on the day of his death after he reportedly fell asleep and didn’t return after lunch.

He was later seen driving erratically and swerving on the M6 northbound before he pulled over onto the hard shoulder.

He then made a U-turn and drove back south on the wrong side of the road.

Woods failed to brake after a near-miss and there was no sign of evasive action before he crashed into the family’s car, according to BBC News.

His phone revealed several searches on suicide and an empty alcohol bottle was discovered in his car’s wreckage, the broadcaster reports.

Woods’s speedometer was frozen on 65mph, but he could have been travelling at 70mph or faster at the time of the crash, the police said.

The coroner ruled that Woods drove ‘purposefully at speed in a southerly direction on the northbound carriageway in lane three on the M6 motorway with the intention of ending his own life.’

Filip and Dominic’s mother Kamila previously paid tribute to her ‘beloved angels.’

She said: ‘Filip was very intelligent, sensitive and full of love. We will never forget his smile, open arms, and the words ‘tuli, tuli’ (hugs, hugs).

‘He was fascinated by computer games but also incredibly good at chess. He loved chemistry and dreamed of studying at the University of Glasgow.

‘Dominic was always smiling, very resolute and sociable. He was extremely caring, always thinking of others first, and the first to help if someone was in trouble.

‘Always surrounded by a group of friends of all ages. He loved dinosaurs and Pokemon, but most of all he loved penguins and dreamed of adopting one.’

Ms McEnroe’s parents said ‘we will miss you every day’ and that she is ‘a very much-loved mummy to Arran.’

An inquest into the crash victims’ deaths is set to take place in April.

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