FOUR members of the same family died after their car went through a stop sign, an inquest heard yesterday.

Marcella Murphy, 64, from Ellesmere Port, and her sister Barbara George, 68, from Aintree, died alongside their relatives Peter and Dymphna King, aged 59 and 57, from Dublin, as their car left the road and landed in a road-works ditch.

The crash happened at the junction of Great Homer Street and Boundary Street in Everton at 7.15pm on October 8 this year.

The family had just visited a restaurant in the city centre.

Liverpool Coroner's Court heard that the Vauxhall Corsa, driven by Frederick Murphy, 66, husband of Marcella, collided with a Ford Fiesta.

The car, driven by Thomas Powell, 20, from Crosby was driving towards Liverpool city centre along Derby Road.

After the two cars had collided the Corsa spun around and crashed through fencing before landing on its roof in a 1.7m hole being dug for road widening.

The four family members died from multiple injuries including broken ribs, pelvis and skull fractures. Mr Murphy was treated for serious rib injuries in Aintree Hospital.

Derek Partridge, traffic officer for Merseyside Police, told the court that from evidence at the scene he estimated Mr Powell's car to be travelling at 42mph.

He added because of the road widening the road had a temporary 20mph speed limit on it although this had been signposted poorly.

The normal speed limit for the road is 30mph.

Mr Partridge said: "If the car had been doing 20mph then it would have been a couple of hundred yards up the road and the crash would never have happened.

"Saying that, the other car should also have given way at the crossing."

Mr Powell had earlier told the court he believed that he was driving between 30 and 35mph. He said that he had blinked, saw the car very close to him and tried to stop before hitting it.

Mr Murphy told the court that he could not remember the events leading to the collision.

He said: "I was driving the car. The last thing I remember was turning into Boundary Street from the Dock Road."

Coroner Andre Robello asked him if he suffered from epilepsy or anything that could have caused him to black out.

Mr Murphy told him that he had been diagnosed with diabetes a month before the accident but the family had just eaten a meal in the city centre and he was taking tablets.

Mr Robello recorded a verdict of death by misadventure for all four who died.