A 10-YEAR-OLD boy died in a road accident after the powerful sports car his father was driving left the road and hit a tree.

Matthew Thacker - known as Matty - and his father John Thacker, 43, died when the black Jaguar XKR they were travelling in left the A456, near Hodgehill Nurseries, in Kidderminster, on October 28, last year.

The car driven by Mr Thacker was in collision with a red Vauxhall Corsa, before hitting a tree with "great force," coroner, Huw Medlicott, told an inquest into their deaths, today.

He added: "Mr Thacker appears to have lost control of the vehicle and it hit the outside of the carriageway before careering across the road and colliding with another vehicle."

Thomas Shepherd, the driver of the Vauxhall Corsa, was driving along the A456 towards Kidderminster at the same time as Mr Thacker.

He was on his way home from a martial arts club in Old Hill, Cradley Heath.

Mr Shepherd said he believed Mr Thacker was travelling faster than the national speed limit.

He added: "I thought he Mr Thacker was almost on my bumper. I pulled into the inside lane.

"I heard a screech and the next thing, I saw the Jaguar in front of my car sideways. I was shocked.

"I lost control and went into the crash barrier into the outside lane.

"I thought it the car was going above the national speed limit because of the speed it reached me."

Mr Thacker's daughter, Emma, who was 15 at the time of the crash, was also travelling in the Jaguar and had to be airlifted to hospital after suffering a broken pelvis.

Mr Medlicott recorded verdicts of accidental death for both Mr Thacker and his son and told the victims' families they had suffered an "irreplaceable loss."