THE grieving widow of a Newport man who plummeted 80 feet from a motorway bridge has welcomed a decison not to hold an inquest into his death.

Father-of-three Jeff Williams, 42, of Llanthewy Road, Newport, and three workmates fell to their deaths on September 8, 1999, when the gantry under the bridge came off its rails. At Bristol crown court last month, Yarm Road, of Ham-mersmith, west London, and Costain, of Maiden-head, Berkshire, were each fined £250,000 and ordered to split prosecution costs of £525,000, having admitted breaching health and safety regulations at the Avon-mouth Bridge site in Bristol.

During the hearing, Philip Mott, QC, prosecuting for the Health and Safety Executive, gave a graphic account into the events leading up to the tragedy, saying: "The lack of safety in design and construction from the start and the failure to react to incidents prior to the fatal accident is evidence of a blindness to basic health and safety principles of truly staggering proportions."

And now Mr Williams' widow, Dawn, has been informed there will be no inquest into how the four men died - meaning she can finally collect her husband's death certificate.

In a letter received by Mrs Williams at the weekend, coroner for Avon, Paul Forrest, said the cause of death was adequately dealt with during November's court case, and in his view there was no purpose "to rehearsing matters over again", bringing needless distress to the victims' families.

Welcoming the decison, Mrs Williams said: "I am actually quite pleased about the decison as it means we don't have to go through it all again.

"Basically, there is nothing to gain from having an inquest. And although I wasn't happy with the fines handed out by the judge, the prosecution was excellent and dealt with every issue."

After the case on Nov-ember 30, Mrs Williams branded the fines "a disgrace and an insult" to her husband's memory.

Now she and the relatives of the three other victims are bringing civil proceedings against the companies.

Her solicitor, Mick Anto-niw, has said if the trial, expected to start by next October, goes their way, the families could share around £2m in compensation, with up to £500,000 going to Mr Williams' family.