http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/8332105.stm
Crash children's plea to driver
Mr Bridges bought a house in the Dordogne in 2005
Two children who died in a car crash in France had pleaded with a former policeman not to drive because he had been drinking, an inquest jury heard.
Bethany Lowe and Gabriella Dyer, both 10, said they should drive rather than Bethany's step-father, Keith Bridges.
The girls and two other people from Somerset died in the crash near Berbiguieres, southern France, in 2006.
In a narrative verdict, the jury found it was caused by Mr Bridges driving at excess speed after drinking alcohol.
Mr Bridges was more than double the UK drink-driving limit when the crash occurred, the court in Taunton had been told.
Mr Bridges' wife Julia-Anne, 43, and Gabriella Dyer's father Andrew, 41, died along with the two girls after Mr Bridges' Cherokee Jeep left the road and hit trees on 7 June 2006.
Three other passengers were injured.
Too small
Anthony Fuller, who had hosted a get-together that day attended by the Bridges and Dyer families, told the inquest that Bethany and Gabriella had told him that all the adults had drunk too much to drive.
He said: "They said all the adults had far too much to drink so we will drive."
Gabriella Dyer was the daughter of one of Mrs Bridges' friends
Mr Fuller told the girls they were too small to operate the pedals of the car.
Mr Bridges had been a police inspector in Minehead. He and his family had bought the property in France in 2005.
The Dyer family, from Bridgwater, were staying at the Bridges' farmhouse at the time of the incident.
In a letter read out to the court, Mr Bridges said he thought a mechanical failure had caused the crash.
He said as his Jeep neared his home he "realised that the car was still accelerating hard and not coasting as normal" as he approached a bend.
Manslaughter charges
A French police investigation found no fault in the Cherokee and that it had been travelling nearly 20mph (32km/h) faster than the recommended speed limit for the road it was on.
The two girls were in the boot of the Jeep and were not wearing seat belts, the jury heard.
Mr Fuller said: "There was no need for those children to die because there were four responsible adults in that car and one of them, and this is difficult for me to say, acted very irresponsibly."
The court also heard from Mr Dyer's widow Tracy, who was badly injured in the crash.
Mr Fuller told the inquest that he was "haunted" by the crash scene
She said she did not doubt that Mr Bridges could drive safely that night.
Mr Bridges will appear before a French court next month on manslaughter and drink driving charges.
The jury's statement said: "The accident would not have occurred if the driver of the vehicle had not attempted to negotiate a bend at an excessive speed and his judgment moderately impaired by alcohol.
"The possibility of excessive speed being caused by the failure of the overdrive system was unlikely to have occurred."
"If all the passengers were correctly seated with seat belts fatalities may not have occurred."
After the inquest, Mr Dyer's mother, Mary, said: "We are happy that the truth has now come out and he [Mr Bridges] has to live with it."
