A soldier brain damaged in a car smash died of his injuries 22 years after it happened, an inquest heard.

Bryan Dwight was 25 and home on leave when his car hit a lamp post in 1983, leaving him with major head and leg injuries.

Later as he was being transferred between hospitals for a vital brain scan the ambulance he was riding in crashed into a car.

His injuries, sustained in the first crash, were so horrific his right leg was amputated and he underwent brain surgery.

Mr Dwight was left in a low state of consciousness for more than two decades.

He died in June at Dewsbury District Hospital after being cared for at Kenmore Cheshire Home, Cleckheaton.

A statement was read out at yesterday's inquest from Mr Dwight's mother Mary Dwight, who lives near Shelf.

She said her son had first joined the Royal Marines at 16, then the Yorkshire-based Duke of Wellington's regiment. He married shortly before the accident.

She described how he was first taken to Halifax Royal Infirmary following the crash, which happened on Burnley Road in Halifax.

Then as he was being transferred to Leeds General Infirmary under police escort the second accident happened at Wyke, although he was not injured further.

After leaving the intensive care unit he was initially cared for at the military hospital at Catterick for six years, then Elmroyd Nursing Home in Brighouse, before being moved to Cleckheaton.

In May he was admitted to Dewsbury District Hospital suffering from bronchial pneumonia, made worse by his condition, and died a few days later after his family took the decision to withdraw his care.

West Yorkshire coroner Roger Whittaker said Mr Dwight, who was originally from Halifax, had died an accidental death.

He said: "For the past 22 years he had been treated and cared for following very severe disabilities as a result of injuries sustained in a road traffic accident in 1983. I understand why his family didn't want him to suffer any further medical intervention.

"He died from bronchial pneumonia but without the severe old head injuries would not have died at that time."