A POPULAR biker lost his life as he returned home from a day out with friends, an inquest heard.

Father-of-two Glen Berry suffered fatal head and pelvic injuries when his powerful motorcycle drifted across a road in Northumberland and collided head-on with a car.

The 44-year-old was riding home from Jedburgh in the Borders with fellow bikers Mark Higgins and Edward Calder when the accident happened on the A696 at Milbourne, between Ponteland and Belsay, on June 26 last year.

Mr Berry, who lived in Neville Crescent, Birtley, Chester-le-Street, with his wife Lillian and two young sons, died instantly.

Eileen Turnbull, a nurse who was driving her Nissan Qashqai when the 750cc motorcycle crashed into it, carried out CPR at the scene but could not save the experienced biker.

The mother-of-four was driving home to Belsay after dropping her daughters off at the Metrocentre when the accident happened.

The 47-year-old, who works in the neo-natal intensive care unit at Newcastle’s RVI, said at the time: “I saw him come round the bend and try to put his foot on the floor and I thought, ‘He’s in trouble’.

“I tried to swerve as much as I could but in a split second he went straight into my car. There was this almighty bang and the airbags went off.

“I gave him CPR, but he had no pulse. I kept trying for what seemed like a lifetime but it was too late.

“It was awful, a tragic loss of a life.”

The inquest into Mr Berry’s death was opened yesterday at Wansbeck General Hospital, in Ashington.

His widow was supported by members of her family and friends as she heard the evidence of witnesses to her husband’s death.

One witness told how Mr Berry had complained of a stiff shoulder earlier in the day and had been seen rotating the joint during the journey home.

The inquest heard how one possible explanation for the crash could be that Mr Berry had suffered from a spasm of pain in his shoulder that caused him to momentarily lose control of the vehicle on the bend. South Northumberland coroner Eric Armstrong told the inquest: “Glen was on the second of three bikes and he drifted across the centre white line for reasons unknown and struck a Nissan Qashqai driven by Eileen Turnbull.

“He suffered what the pathologist described as fatal head and pelvic injuries.

“There is no suggestion that Glen was doing anything silly.

“This was purely and simply a tragic accident and a tragic conclusion to what should have been a nice run out on the bikes.

“I can only record a verdict of accidental death.”

I tried to swerve as much as I could but in a split second he went straight into my car