Ex-parish councillor died at wheel of car in Whitchurch

Irene Stockton, 66, from Audlem, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident near the Homebase store in Station Road, Whitchurch, on April 30.

At an inquest held yesterday at Shirehall in Shrewsbury John Ellery, coroner for Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin heard that Mrs Stockton had been suffering from coronary artery atheroma, which caused her to suffer from a heart attack while she was driving.

The inquest heard Mrs Stockton had lived in Audlem all her life, worked in the village's pubs for many years and was a parish councillor from 1995 until 2011.

She had been driving a silver Ford Fiesta towards Whitchurch town centre, while a blue Jeep Patriot Sport was travelling in the opposite direction at the time of the accident.

In a statement, the driver of the Jeep, 59-year-old Terence Hulse from Whitchurch, said he had been returning home along Station Road when he was suddenly hit by another vehicle, which strayed on to his carriageway.

Impact

"There was an almighty bang on impact and I could see an elderly lady in the car," he said.

"Her lips were blue. Another man managed to pull her out of the vehicle and was performing CPR on her. This carried on until the first responders arrived."

An eyewitness, Hannah Williams told the inquest via a statement that she had been travelling along Station Road behind the Jeep Patriot when a silver Ford Fiesta swerved across the road and collided with the 4x4.

"The driver of the 4x4 did not have a chance to react or to take evasive action," she said.

"The accident was caused by the Ford Fiesta. I got out of my vehicle to see if there was anything I could do to help the drivers involved.

"I called the emergency services and two men forced the door of the Ford Fiesta open. They then started to do CPR on the driver and were trying to find a pulse."

Constable Ian Edwards, of the Collision Investigation Unit at West Mercia Police, said there were no defects or mechanical problems with the car and it appeared from marks made on the seatbelt that Mrs Stanton may have been slumped to one side on impact.

He added: "Everything points to illness at the wheel."

In conclusion Mr Ellery said that on evidence from the post mortem, it appeared that Mrs Stockton suffered from coronary atheroma which caused sudden death.

"She would not have suffered, death was instantaneous," he said.

"I conclude that whatever caused Mrs Stockton to swerve across the road was a medical event and that was the cause of the road traffic collision."