THE death of a father-of-three was a “tragic accident”, a coroner has ruled.

Paul Anthony Armstrong died in the early hours of April 26 after his blue Ford Mondeo left a road near Staindrop, in County Durham, and went through a fence before coming to rest in a field.

The 34-year-old, who was the only person in the car, was pronounced dead at the scene on the A688 near Dunhouse Quarry.

Today (September 1), assistant coroner Crispin Oliver, heard how a post mortem revealed the cause of death to be compressive asphyxia while a toxological report also showed he had both alcohol and cocaine in his system. Mr Oliver, however, said it was not possible to tell what specific affect it would have had on Mr Armstrong’s ability to drive.

Senior investigations officer, Sergeant Simon Kestle, said Mr Armstrong, of Cockfield, near Bishop Auckland, had started a night out with family and friends at two pubs in the village, on April 25.

CCTV footage showed him taking his children to his mother’s house before carrying on to Evenwood Club with his friends.

Mr Armstrong left the club with one of his friends to try to find his partner in Barnard Castle and CCTV showed him visiting a wine bar and a pub before heading toward Morrison’s car park.

CCTV footage from the town’s petrol station then picked up what police believed to be Mr Armstrong’s car leaving the town just before 2am.

However, it was not until about 5.30am that a HGV driver found Mr Armstrong and called 999 after noticing the debris on the road.

Forensic collision investigator, PC Rob Turner, said scuff marks showed Mr Armstrong hit the curb on the opposite side of the road which caused the vehicle to spin before going through the fence backwards and coming to rest more than 70 metres into the field.

He also calculated that it was likely the car was travelling in excess of the 60mph limit and Mr Armstrong was not wearing a seatbelt.

Sgt Kestle said he was not able to determine how much alcohol Mr Armstrong had drunk, but friends had described him as not appearing intoxicated.

Mr Oliver ruled the death an accident.

He said: “This is an accident and it’s a tragic accident and the background circumstances of impairment of judgement, too much alcohol, excessive speed and not wearing a seatbelt are evident.”