QUESTIONS remain surrounding the death of a 19-year-old who lost control of his car and "wrapped it around a tree" while on his way home from an evening out with friends.

There were no witnesses to David Mullery's accident on January 12 this year, and no marks on the road to leave clues for police to piece together what happened.

Mr Mullery's Fiat was discovered crashed into a tree on Warren Lane and he was taken to Northwick Park Hospital but soon transferred to the specialist National Hospital as he was suffering serious head injuries.

Despite several days treatment there including surgery to relieve the pressure in his skull, Mr Mullery did not recover and died on January 18, Hornsey Coroner's Court heard.

The teenager, who lived with his family in Westbere Drive, Stanmore, had been to the Ex- servicemen's club in Stanmore High Street with a friend on the evening of the accident. Although he had a drink, friends said he had not drunk much.

His mother Susan Cook told the inquest she thought he would have been using Warren Lane as a short cut home. She said: "We helped him buy the car in October just before the accident," adding that her son had passed his driving test in January 2003.

Although Mrs Cook was unaware of her son's drug use, a report from a GP Dr Susan Sumners revealed that Mr Mullery had told her he was using a gram of cocaine per day and would binge drink up to 15 pints.

Accident Investigator PC Mark Donnelly pointed out that a "space saver" spare tyre was being used as one of the front wheels, and other tyres on the car were at a very low pressure, not due to the accident. These factors, said the officer, could have contributed.

He said when he arrived on scene he found the Fiat to be "wrapped around the tree trunk" but all he could say of the accident was that at the time of impact the car had been travelling between 21 to 30 mph, and that at some point it had been sliding sideways.

PC Donnelly also noticed that while he was at the scene- a "Country Lane" running through the woods- he had spotted a number of deers, and thought of the possibility Mr Mullery had swerved to avoid an animal.

A post mortem report by Pathologist Dr Rufus Crompton gave the cause of death as severe diffuse brain injuries consistent with a road traffic accident.

Coroner Dr William Dolman, recording a verdict of accidental death, said:" It's likely that he lost control for some as yet unknown reason."