AN 80-year-old man has become the fourth person to die on the roads of west Suffolk in just 12 days after suffering a suspected heart attack at the wheel of his car.

AN 80-year-old man has become the fourth person to die on the roads of west Suffolk in just 12 days after suffering a suspected heart attack at the wheel of his car.

Pensioner Brian Lewis of Leavenheath, near Sudbury, died yesterday morning when the Mercedes car he was driving veered into a ditch close to the Wyvale Garden Centre on Newton Road, Great Cornard, along the A134.

A spokesman from the Eat Anglian Ambulance NHS Trust said: “We arrived at the scene at around 8.50am and the vehicle was in a ditch.

“It appeared the man had suffered a heart-attack, paramedics attempted to resuscitate him, but he was later pronounced dead at the scene.”

No other car was involved in the accident. Suffolk police closed the road for several hours and set up diversions while the incident was dealt with.

A Suffolk police spokesman said although an investigation into the cause of the crash has been launched, the force is not appealing for witnesses.

The death is the fourth on roads in west Suffolk in just 12 days and another two motorists, including an American servicewoman, are still fighting for their lives in hospital following a further two road crashes in the area.

Pauline King, 67, of St Bartholomew's Lane, Sudbury, was killed when the Nissan car she was driving was involved in a collision with an ambulance in Melford Road, Sudbury, on Friday, November 26.

And Dominic Reddick, 34, of Brandon, died following a two-car accident on the eastbound slip road of the A14 at Risby, near Bury St Edmunds, on Tuesday, November 30.

Just hours after Mr Reddick's accident, 40-year-old Elizabeth Turner, of Burwell, was killed when her bicycle was in a collision with a van in Cotton End Road, between Exning and Fordham.

Meanwhile, a 22-year-old man and a 20-year-old female airman from RAF Lakenheath are still fighting for their lives in Addenbrookes Hospital following two separate crashes earlier this month.

The man sustained serious injuries when his car was involved in a collision with a lorry on the A14 at Newmarket on December 1, while the airman's car left the road and hit a tree on the A1065 at Eriswell on Saturday night.

Last night a hospital spokesman described the condition of both drivers as “critical.”