A Magistrate ruled yesterday that a fatal road accident in which a Devonshire man died was caused by misadventure.

Forty-year-old John Watson became the 14th road fatality of 1998 when his motorcycle skidded into the path of an oncoming taxi as he took his girlfriend home last November.

The accident, which occurred as the couple was travelling west on Middle Road in Paget, left both the riders with serious internal injuries.

However, while his girlfriend, Deana Grecko, was able to be revived, Mr.

Watson succumbed to his injuries in the early morning hours on November 1.

At yesterday's inquest, Magistrate Edward King heard the testimony of several witnesses, including doctors, nurses and Police officers, so that the events leading up to the accident could be clarified.

His verdict, that Mr. Watson's death had been caused by misadventure, meant that he felt the accident had been caused, not by one thing, but by a number of different factors.

The first witness, Dr. Donogh Murphy, explained in detail the autopsy which was performed to determine the cause of Mr. Watson's death.

It was decided that his internal injuries had just proved too much and that he had succumbed to these.

However, Dr. Murphy said that Mr. Watson "smelled of alcohol'' and that a sample of his blood had proved to be intoxicated when tested.

There were 125 millilitres of alcohol in each 100 millilitres of his blood.

The legal limit is 80 millilitres of alcohol to 100 millilitres of blood.

However, evidence was given to suggest that it might not have been exactly this fact that had led to the fatal accident.

P.c. Alan Oliver and Insp. Charles Dorrington both stated that when they arrived on the scene of the crash, the roads were wet from recent rainfall.

P.c. Oliver said: "When I saw two people lying in the middle of the road, I had to sharply apply the brakes to stop. Even though we were only going at 30 kph, the vehicle skidded quite a way before it came to a halt.'' It was also revealed that Mr. Watson's motorcycle, a Suzuki TS-100, had not been in the best of repair.

Insp. Dorrington, an expert in road accident investigation, said an examination of Mr. Watson's motorcycle, a Suzuki TS-100, revealed "the rear brakes were adjusted to their highest level, indicating that they needed to be fixed''.

A statement was read from the driver of the taxi, Edward Darrell, who was off the Island due to urgent medical problems.

His testimony indicated that the motorcycle had attempted to overtake another cycle on the sharp bend just outside St. Paul's Church.

According to Mr. Darrell, the cycle's back wheel skidded due to the wet roads causing it to fall over and collide with the taxi's front corner.

Insp. Dorrington calculated that the taxi was travelling within the speed limit from the skid marks at the scene of the accident.

Mr. King said it was not possible to tell which of the factors had been more responsible for the accident and ruled that Mr. Watson had died by misadventure.

He expressed his sincere condolences to Mr. Watson's family and friends.

John Watson: Motocycle riders's death was caused by combination of alcohol and wet roads.