A POPULAR young mum died instantly when her car overturned and struck a tree, an inquest heard.

Francesca Lee suffered multiple injuries in what Dorset coroner Rachael Griffin described as "a momentary lapse of concentration."

Francesca, 23, of Lion Drive, Milborne Port, Sherborne died when her baby son, Alfie, was just 17 months old.

She had been brought up by her grandparents from the age of seven following the death of her mother.

A Bournemouth inquest heard she and her friend, Sophie Chainey, were driving from Yeovil to Sherborne on the A30 in separate cars when tragedy struck on the evening of March 6 this year.

Witnesses saw them driving side by side on the dual carriageway at Babylon Hill before Francesca's car left the carriageway.

Miss Chainey said she had waved at her friend but could not see her because it was dark. She saw her car leave the road in her rear view mirror.

Francesca's grandparents, Elizabeth and Terry Starkey, along with siblings Hannah Crawford and Adam Lee, issued a moving statement following her death.

They said: "Devoted mummy to her beautiful baby, 17-month-old Alfie, he was her whole world and he meant everything to her.

"She was a happy, bright child who loved school, she enjoyed living in the country and had a love of animals and nature. Francesca was a kind and loving girl who always tried to do her best to put people at ease, she had the most amazing laugh, a wicked sense of humour.

"She has touched so many people’s hearts over the years, people who have watched her grow from a small child living with her grandparents to becoming the beautiful and mature young woman she was."

Recording a conclusion that Miss Lee died as the result of a road traffic accident, Mrs Griffin said: "What I believe happened is that she became distracted. For whatever reason that was, she did not take that slight right hand bend."