A MOTORIST who thought he had hit a badger returned to the scene to find that he had run over a man, an inquest has heard.

Sam Edwards, who was driving along the A525 near Coedpoeth, Wrexham, on the night of May 2, 2023, told police that he had hit a badger on the same stretch of road a few years previously and it had caused the same amount of damage.

In a statement read at an inquest at Ruthin County Hall on Wednesday (June 19), Mr Edwards said he had been travelling within the 50mph speed limit on dipped headlights when he suddenly saw something in the road.

“It seemed to be crawling or scrambling across the road and, given the rural location, I assumed it was a badger,” he said.

When he realised his Ford Focus had been damaged he turned round and came across the scene.

What he had hit, in fact, was local man Sion Jones, who had suffered a brain stem injury and was confirmed as dead at the scene.

A post-mortem examination revealed that Mr Jones, 43, had 312 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, the drink-drive limit being 80.

Forensic collision investigator Gordon Saynor told the inquest that CCTV from a site about 150 metres away showed Mr Jones staggering about with a can in his hand.

He said that Mr Jones, who was wearing dark clothing, had either stumbled into the road or been lying there, and that Mr Edwards would not have been able to avoid him.

Mr Jones, of Heol Bathafarn, Coedpoeth, was a talented footballer in his youth and had trials with Stoke City before an injury dashed his hopes at the age of 15.

He served for four years in the 22 Regiment Royal Arrtillery, known as the Welsh Gunners, before returning to work as a forklift truck driver with Premier Decorations on Wrexham Industrial Estate.

A back injury forced him to leave and in a statement read at the hearing his mother Denise Roberts said he had a drink problem but “seemed to have turned the corner”.”

Recording a conclusion of a road traffic collision, Kate Robertson, assistant coroner for North Wales East and Central, said evidence showed that Mr Jones was not upright when he was hit.

“He was intoxicated at the time,” she said.

At the time of his death his family issued a statement in which they said: “He had a kind nature and was known to everyone by his smile which would light up a room.”