A GWENT woman died after losing control of her motorbike and crashing into an oncoming vehicle, as her husband followed in the family car with their young daughter, an inquest was told.

Forty-two year-old Cheryl Cutter, from Undy, bought the Honda 125cc with her husband Ian less than a month before the crash, on the afternoon of Sunday October 3 last year.

The couple had been on a training course and out on roads around Undy, getting used to riding the bike, but on the day she died they changed their route to avoid Ryder Cup traffic, heading through Caldicot toward Portskewett.

Mr Cutter told Gwent coroner David Bowen they had noticed other drivers close up behind motorcycles, so one of them always followed directly behind in their car to keep a safe distance.

Mr Cutter said he believed his wife was driving better than ever, but just before going into a gradual left hand bend on the B4245, he noticed the bike was wobbling. It then drifted over the centre of the road straight into a Land Rover Freelander.

Mrs Cutter died of multiple injuries. In a statement read to the inquest, the driver of the Freelander Mrs Grace Gecseg, from Chepstow, said she started into a sweeping right hand bend, and saw the motorcycle "swerving erratically."

She believed the rider was trying to stay on the other side, but the bike came into her path. "There was nothing I could do. It all happened in seconds," she said.

PC Stuart Stirling, of Gwent Police's collision investigation unit, said it appeared Mrs Cutter "simply lost control", adding that it is not unusual for novice riders to have balance problems and difficulty in correcting their balance.

Mr Bowen concluded Mrs Cutter's death was an accident. He said: "Perhaps it is ironic the cause was slightly down to Mrs Cutter's inexperience, the very thing the ride that day was intended to improve upon."