A TAVISTOCK man has told an inquest of the moment he watched his car roll down the King Harry Ferry slipway into the River Fal with his wife inside.

Ann Pewter died on March 20 last year after the maroon Mazda rolled down the incline opposite Trelissick Gardens and quickly sank in 25ft of water.

The inquest in Truro on Monday was told she and her husband David were on holiday in Cornwall at the time, and they had never been on the King Harry Ferry before.

Mr Pewter, a 76-year-old retired engineer, told the court that his wife was not driving at the time, as she suffered from arthritis in her wrists and had a problem with her hips.

They had been visiting the church in St Just-in-Roseland and arrived at the slipway just before 4pm.

He got out of the car to take a picture.

He said: 'The car started moving slowly forward and I couldn't catch it.

'Next thing it just rolled slowly down to the water.'

He said he could not explain further what happened, but the car was in gear with the handbrake on. The couple's two dogs were in the back seat.

Despite efforts of search and rescue crews from the Navy, coastguard, RNLI, police, fire and ambulance personnel and the bravery of shellfish diver Matt Vernon, who was passing at the time and descended repeatedly into the depths, Mrs Pewter died at the scene with her two beloved pet dogs.

The car was winched back on to the slipway just before 6pm. Mrs Pewter was declared dead at Royal Cornwall Hospital at Truro.

A pathologist told the coroner the cause of death was drowning.

Deputy coroner for Cornwall Barrie van den Berg recorded a verdict of accidental death.