The mother of the 16-year-old girl, who plunged 100ft to her death from a theme park ride, left the inquest in a flood of tears.

Hayley Williams' family, from Pontypool, had sat through four emotion-filled days, during which eyewitnesses recalled her fall from the Hydro ride at Oakwood theme park on April 15th, 2004. They had also seen CCTV footage of her last moments.

The jury at the inquest at Haverfordwest last week returned a narrative verdict which read: "Hayley was ejected from the Hydro ride because she was not properly restrained and died as a result of the injuries she sustained."

But her father, Alan, representing the family, said: "We are disappointed that the jury was not allowed to decide whether Hayley was killed as a result of negligence at Oakwood.

Having heard the evidence, we believe that she was and we suspect that anyone listening to the same evidence would agree with us."

Pembrokeshire coroner Michael Howells said: "From the CCTV footage it is clear her lap bar was not down, the result was almost inevitable."

The jury was told that Hayley was pronounced dead at 4.30pm at Withybush Hospital, and that her death was due to rupture of the aorta due to blunt force trauma of the trunk.

In the coroner's summing up he reminded the jury of the evidence from the people who had been on the ride at the time of Hayley's death which included her sister Hannah, aged 15, and Martin Rothwell, aged 11, who was hit on the head by one of Hayley's shoes.

He also drew their attention to the evidence of Oakwood staff including Rebecca Chittlesburgh, aged 21, who admitted that she had not physically checked all the passenger restraints.

The jury had to consider technical evidence from several experts, including mechanical engineer Roger Jones, specialist inspector for the Health and Safety Executive at the time of the accident and CCTV expert Andy Laws.

In his conclusion, Mr Howells told Hayley's parents that he hoped the inquest would allow them to draw a line under the tragedy.'