Inquest hears of family’s crash tragedy

Nov 27 2008 by Emma Davison, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Crash investigator Pc Alan Broadbent said that after the first incident one of the car’s tyres had deflated, which meant the car was unbalanced at the time it hit the wall.

He added: “It’s possible that she accelerated due to the deflated tyre, but the icy conditions meant the car slid across the junction and collided with the wall.”

Mr Broadbent estimated that Sharon had been travelling at 40mph in a 30mph area. Tests also revealed that she had been more than three times over the legal drink-drive alcohol limit, which coroner Roger Whittaker said would have also affected her ability to control the car.

Recording a verdict of accidental death Mr Whittaker told Sharon’s parents: “I’m very conscious of the care that you’ve lavished on your daughter for several years and that this compounds the grief you feel.

“She died some 18 months after sustaining these horrific injuries but her death relates back to that incident. If it had not been for that accident she would not have died at the time she did.”