EYE-witnesses have described hearing the children’s screams as the car hurtled towards the water at speed.

Martin Waites, aged 56, who lives opposite the river, watched in horror as the motorist drove “like a wild man’’ across a field before plunging into the icy river.

He said: “I could hear a screech of brakes and a car driving at speed through a field. The field is about 100 metres long and I could see dirt flying and the car fish-tailing all over the place. It was hurtling down the field and must have been doing at least 50mph. There are still tyre marks in the dirt.

“I could see the man at the wheel and he looked like a wild man. My first thought was, ‘Oh my God, the guy is trying to kill himself’.

“The car hit the water with an almighty bang and floated for a few seconds. Then I saw two children in the back seat screaming and banging on the window trying to get out.

“The man must have realised what he had done and opened up his driver’s door. Then all the water flooded in. He grabbed the boy and got out of the car just before the car sank but the girl was still trapped inside.

“He managed to get on to the shore and collapsed. There was a woman watching nearby.’’ Another witness, an elderly widow who did not want to be named, said she was walking her shiatsu dog by the river when she saw the crash and rushed to get help.

She said: ‘’It was absolutely horrendous hearing those children screaming inside the car. I saw the man get out of the car and I was standing on the river bank shouting and screaming and waving my arms to get help.

“The man dragged the boy out of the car and onto the river bank. The man was coughing and spluttering when he was on the shore. The boy was unconscious.

“I don’t usually walk that way but someone must have been guiding my footsteps that morning otherwise they would have died. I ran to get help and banged on the door of a man who rang the police and ambulance service.’’ A local woman who spoke to the incident’s only eyewitness, said: “There was only one witness who is now with the police. He was doing some groundwork nearby. He said there was a man, with two children, who had some sort of a domestic with his wife and had taken the children off in the car.

“I was told the car was driving at some speed down Boat Lane. The witness assumed by the way the car was driving that it looked as though he had the intention of driving into the river.

“The witness had the intention of trying to stop him. At the end of the road he swerved by the car park but ended up going into the river.

“The man and a boy got out of the car but there was a little girl who didn’t escape.

“The witness said the divers eventually got the girl out of the water about two hours afterwards and were performing resuscition for 30 or 40 minutes before the air ambulance took to her to hospital.

The woman said: “Maybe the man had tried to swerve away from the river at the last minute. The witness definitely heard the children screaming. They were obviously frightened.”