A STUDENT who drove home after drinking pints of blackcurrant and cider died in a head-on collision that also killed a young doctor.

William Wise, 20, who was studying crime and policing studies at Canterbury Christ Church University, argued with friends before driving from Canterbury towards his home in Kingsnorth, Ashford, on Friday, April 8 last year, an inquest heard last week.

Junior doctor Esohe Omoregie, 25, was driving in the opposite direction, returning to her home in Canterbury, after a shift at the William Harvey Hospital, Ashford, when the two cars collided on the A28 near Chartham, just after 10pm. Both died in their cars after suffering multiple injuries.

The impact of the collision sent William's Clio flying into the air and span both cars around, Esohe's Polo ending up in a field, the Clio then hitting a telegraph pole and crashing into a hedge.

A close friend of William's, Ria Baker said the pair drank cider and blackcurrant in a friend's garden and ate there before drinking "a few pints or bottles" more and sharing a jug of alcoholic cocktail at the Jolly Sailor pub, Northgate, Canterbury, in the afternoon and evening before the crash.

At the friend's house, Miss Baker said, William had "a childish boys' argument" with another man.

When she last saw him, smoking outside the pub at about 9.30pm, it was obvious he had been drinking but "he wasn't on the floor or slurring his words or anything".

William was seen rowing with a second friend at the house and was last seen acting distressed and running along Northgate towards his car.

PC David Burley of Kent Police's Serious Collisions Investigation Unit said the speedometer on William's white Renault Clio stopped at 94mph when he crashed on the 50mph road, although he admitted it could have read higher than he was travelling if the wheels lifted off the ground during the collision.

The speed recorded on Esohe's red Volkswagen Polo was 38mph.

PC Burley said there were no faults with either vehicle or with the road surface but the headlights on William's car were not switched on when he arrived at the scene and no one has admitted switching them off.

A post mortem examination revealed there was no alcohol in Esohe's blood but William was more than twice over the legal limit for driving, having 179mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood. The legal limit is 80mg.

Coroner Rebecca Cobb recorded an open verdict on both deaths saying she could not be certain William had not engineered the crash to commit suicide.

However William's father Grant Wise and friend Ria Baker both told the inquest they did not believe he would take his own life.

However, Mr Wise admitted William had been seen by psychiatric doctors on previous occasions and the inquest heard the keen hockey player had seemed less happy, and started drinking more, after his relationship with his girlfriend ended.