'Amazing' girl, 3, dies after OAP driving wrong way down the M6 smashes into car

Little Faye Dawson's devastated mum Beth told of the horrific moment she was confronted with the Porsche Boxster driven by 79-year-old Terence Unsworth, as she drove on the M6

A three-year-old girl was killed when an elderly driver caused a head-on crash by driving the wrong way down the M6.

Little Faye Dawson's devastated mum Beth told of the horrific moment she was confronted with the Porsche Boxster driven by 79-year-old Terence Unsworth, as she drove in the fast lane in November 2022. An inquest into Faye's death has heard her mum death was met with the headlights of a car coming towards her.

Ms Dawson said: "I can't remember how long it was into the journey, but I was travelling on the M6 when a car in front of me moved and I was confronted with car headlights right in from of me. I tried to take evasive action but there was no time. I blacked out."

The inquest heard Mr Unsworth drove down the slip road at J28 at Leyland before making a sudden U-turn into the third lane of the southbound motorway, directly into the path of oncoming traffic. He crashed head-on with Faye's mum's Vauxhall Meriva, fatally injuring the three-year-old who was sitting in the back seat, the Liverpool Echo reports.

An earlier inquest into the death of Mr Unsworth heard the pensioner's actions were "deliberate", and the investigation was unable to explain why he decided to drive the wrong way down the motorway. Following the crash, Faye was taken to Royal Preston Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. A post-mortem examination found her cause of death was multiple injuries.

Handing down a conclusion of death due to road traffic collision, coroner Richard Taylor told her family: "I can't begin to imagine what you have had to live through and you have my eternal sympathies for that."

In a statement following the inquest, Ms Dawson said: "Today has been horrible for all of us, having to relive the events of November 19 and the accident which took away my lovely Faye's life almost before it had truly begun. A family day out. That day was supposed to contain so many happy memories, and was turned so painfully into the worst day of our lives. I am truly heartbroken Faye has been tragically taken away from us.

"I am so lost without my little babe. Faye was my one and only child, my daughter and my best friend. Faye was the most amazing, craziest, sassy, gorgeous, caring little girl there will ever be. Faye enjoyed singing and dancing, playing outside. She was clever, loved nursery and was so advanced for her age in many ways.

"My poor babe should have had her whole life ahead of her. To have her life so cruelly snatched away in a moment is something I will never get over. No child should leave this world before their parent. No words will ever come close to the pain.

"Neither this inquest not the earlier inquest into the death of other other part, nor the investigation by the police has been able to establish exactly why the other person decided to drive his car the wrong way down the motorway. His actions were inexplicable. It eats away at me and makes it impossible to achieve any kind of justice, closure and the space to grieve. Our lives will never be the same. We all love and miss you forever, our Faye."