A MILK tanker driver killed in a crash spoke to her husband moments before the tragic accident, an inquest was told.

Melanie Wiltshire, 52, died when her milk tanker rolled over on the C53 near Dorchester between the Martinstown and Monkey’s Jump roundabout in the early hours of June 19 last year.

A jury inquest into her death in Dorchester heard that Mrs Wiltshire, from Shillingstone, had collected milk from Church Farm in Martinstown and left shortly before 1am.

In a statement read to the inquest her husband Richard Wiltshire, also a milk tanker driver with the Wincanton Group, said she called him on her hands free phone saying she was returning to the depot.

Within two miles of the farm her tanker rolled over and came to rest in a field.

Mr Wiltshire said: “We said goodbye to each other and it was the last time I spoke to her.”

Martinstown resident Samuel Pascal described in his statement how he was the first to discover the tanker, which had rolled on to its side, at around 2am and he called the police.

Mrs Wiltshire was pronounced dead at the scene. Pathologist Dr Mark Deverell concluded that the cause of death was a fractured neck.

The jury returned a narrative verdict that stated: “The vehicle was found overturned on an acute bend on the C53.

“We believe this to have been an accident which may or may not have been prevented if the rollover protection system had been activated.”