Coroner to give 'serious thought' over death of motorcyclist near Oswestry

John Ellery said he will give a written conclusion by Friday, December 18, after hearing a day of evidence into the death of Daniel Mark Hughes.

Mr Hughes, 24, from Llanfyllin, died instantly when his bike collided with a car emerging from a driveway with poor visibility on the A483 in June, 2017.

The inquest into the death of the fabricator was opened on November 18 this year following a lengthy delay due to police investigations and court proceedings.

The inquest previously heard how the tragedy happened on the A483 Oswestry trunk road at Sweeney, when Mr Hughes had been travelling to Welshpool at about 2pm on June 4.

Mr Hughes collided with a Hyundai Tuscon being driven by Susan Hewart-Chambers, who had been charged with causing death by driving without due care and attention before it was discontinued by a judge earlier this year.

At Shrewsbury's Shirehall yesterday, senior coroner for Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin, John Ellery, heard evidence from two road traffic collision experts following a heartbreaking opening from Mr Hughes' father, in which he called his son a talented man and his "best friend".

Data

A joint statement from Neil Taylor, former collision investigator with West Mercia Police who examined the scene on the day, and Stephen Cash, collision investigator from Forensic Collision Investigation & Reconstruction, said: "Neither vehicles had pre-existing defects which could have caused or contributed to the collision."

The statement added that data taken from Mrs Hewart-Chambers' car suggested she had been turning left towards Welshpool, but Mr Cash did not agree.

The court heard how Mr Taylor contacted the vehicle engineer who confirmed the data was correct.

But Mr Cash said he conducted numerous tests which showed Mr Hughes would have been driving at 100mph, and Mrs Hewart-Chamber's car would have been stationary on the wrong side of the road for 2.5 seconds, for the data to be correct.

Based on evidence from the scene of the crash, Mr Cash deemed this not possible and said the most likely speed Mr Hughes was travelling was 50mph and that Mrs Hewart-Chambers had been turning right towards Oswestry.

Offering condolences to the Hughes family, Mr Taylor added: "Evidence is lacking in this case which is why we have so many opinions and figures plucked out of the air."

Mr Ellery brought the inquest to a close and said he would deliver his conclusion by 4pm on Friday, December 18.