A gifted sportsman was almost double the drink-drive limit when he crashed into a tree, an inquest heard.

Kriss Dreimanis, 20, died on July 27 when his Vauxhall Astra careered off Dereham Road, Mattishall close to the A47.

The inquest in Norwich yesterday heard how the former East Norfolk Sixth Form College student, of Dereham Road, Mattishall, had driven to see a friend, Joshua Bessey, in Lowestoft, in the hours before he died.

Mr Bessey said in a witness statement read to the court that Mr Dreimanis had drunk a can of Stella lager, a shandy and soft drinks with him and that he seemed 'fine' when he left his home.

But the court heard how Mr Dreimanis had already drank up to three cans of Fosters lager in the hours before and his blood and urine samples later showed him to be almost double the legal limit.

Forensic police investigator PC Forbes Scott also calculated Mr Dreimanis' speed to be about 80mph – around 20mph over the limit.

He said: 'Driving almost two times the legal alcohol limit is likely to have affected his driving ability and his decision-making.

'This, coupled with the speed he was driving, is a likely cause of his loss of control.'

Mr Dreimanis' stepfather Rowland Buck, 64, of Dereham Road, Mattishall said the family queried Mr Dreimanis being over the alcohol limit as, he said, no witnesses had said he was drunk.

He had lived in Gorleston for a number of years before moving and going on to university in Lincolnshire.

He moved from Latvia to Gorleston with his mum and became involved with local volleyball teams as a teenager and went on to join the University of Lincoln's American football team.

Norfolk coroner Jacqueline Lake recorded a verdict of accidental death.