A MOTORCYCLIST who died after a crash on Woolston Grange Avenue lost control of his bike after suddenly braking.

Brendan Williams, 31, was riding his Kawasaki bike at around 49 to 55mph on the 40mph road at the time of the accident.

He was following his colleague who was driving a ‘sporty’ new Ford Focus after the pair of them left work at around 5.30pm on July 14 2016.

Mr Williams’ partner sobbed as she gave evidence at Warrington Coroner’s Court last Thursday and said: “His bike was more of a hobby he used at weekends, he’d had no previous accidents on it. It was like his baby. On the day of the accident he was happy, there was nothing out of the ordinary. He was fine and just talking like normal.”

The senior technician had been given a lift back to his home on Jubilee Avenue in Padgate for lunch and returned to work on his motorbike.

His colleague, who had worked with Mr Williams for nine years, collected a new car in his lunch break but said there was no discussion of the pair racing their vehicles.

He said: “I hadn’t had a car for a few years, I used company vehicles.

“We always joked with everything, usually about pointless things. He told me if he had spent £17,000 on a car he would have thought of something better than a Ford Focus.”

The pair left work at the same time and the colleague said: “I accelerated up the hill. Sometimes there’s a mobile speed camera there so I checked my speed. That’s when I saw Bren was behind me. I looked in my rear view mirror and saw his handlebars wobbling side to side. I carried on and when I looked again I just saw his bike skidding down the road. I went around the roundabout and drove back to the scene.”

A Fedex driver who witnessed the incident said: “The engine noise was really loud. There was probably about five or six car lengths between them. It happened very quickly.

“Just before the top of the hill the Focus braked quite sharply but didn’t skid. When the bike braked both tyres smoked and it skidded. At first I didn’t know if the Focus was even aware of the motorbike or if they were racing. Then I thought they weren’t racing because the car didn’t stop, so maybe he didn’t see him.

“For a split second I thought the motorcyclist gained control and thought ‘that was lucky’. But then the bike went from under him. The rider slid up the embankment and into the lamppost.”

Police confirmed Mr Williams was wearing suitable protective clothing and was not intoxicated at the time of the crash.

The bike did not collide with the car.

An officer said Mr Williams ‘lost control’ of the bike after braking .

Coroner Claire Hammond concluded Mr Williams died as a result of multiple injuries in a road traffic collision.

THE driver of the Ford Focus Mr Williams was following before the crash was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving after the results of a toxicology report carried out on his blood at a forensics lab put him over the legal limit for a by-product of cocaine.

Hundreds of drug-driver cases are under review after two staff at Randox Testing Services, a company used by Cheshire Police, were arrested.

Charges were dropped against the driver after it was revealed his blood sample was one of those affected and Sergeant Neil Farnworth said : “We were led to believe initially he had committed an offence. Fortunately we still had a sample left which was retested and found to be under the limit. Legal summons were discontinued.”

A CPS spokesperson said:

“We continue to work with the Home Office, police and the Office of the Forensic Science Regulator to assess the impact of issues relating to Randox Testing Services.

“As there is an ongoing police investigation into these issues, it would be inappropriate for us to comment in detail.

“Our priority is to establish the impact of these issues on both completed and ongoing cases, in order to ensure that appropriate action is taken.”

The investigation has raised concerns that hundreds of people could have been victims of miscarriages of justice because of convictions based on incorrect results in their cases.