A 50-year-old motorist wept as she recalled how a motorcyclist smashed through her windscreen in an horrific road accident.

Paul Wheddon, 38, died instantly after his Kawasaki motor bike collided with Kathleen Griffiths' Peugeot Almera on the A361 at Wardington, near Banbury, while he was overtaking another car.

An inquest in Oxford yesterday heard Mr Wheddon, of Fletcher Close, Aylesbury was out with his friend, Geoff Bunyan, on their motorbikes, when the accident happened on April 21.

The force of the impact threw him through the windscreen and into Mrs Griffiths' passenger seat. He died at the scene of multiple injuries.

An emotional Mrs Griffiths, of Charwelton, near Banbury, said: "I saw the motorbike start to overtake. I think he realised what was happening, and he put his brakes on."

Mr Bunyan, from Buckingham, who was riding ahead of Mr Wheddon, said the other car, a Saab being driven by Stuart Reid-Jones, was accelerating, making it difficult to overtake.

"Paul was stuck behind. The last I saw of him, he was at the back corner of the car waiting to overtake."

Mr Reid-Jones, of Woodford Halse, near Banbury, denied he had been accelerating. He said Mr Wheddon had already overtaken him but had collided with Mrs Griffiths' car after losing control of his bike.

Coroner Nicholas Gardiner recorded a verdict of accidental death.