The life of a young man with a “very bright future ahead of him” was cut short in a road traffic accident near Newbiggin, Stainton, an inquest heard.
The three-hour hearing, held at Cockermouth, included many tributes paid to 19-year-old Jack Taylor, including one from former Liverpool FC star and manager Sir Kenny Dalglish and others from Jack’s former teachers, employer, football coaches and friends.
His father, Alan, recalled Jack’s “beautiful beaming smile”, can-do attitude and knack for making others feel happy.
He also spoke of his close friendship with his younger brother, Josh, who would go to see Jack play football even though he had little interest in the sport.
Jack attended Stainton Primary School and Ullswater Community College, Penrith, where he was described by a teacher as a “model student”, leaving with nine GCSEs and three good A-levels.
He had many sporting interests as a schoolboy, with football being the main one, and played for junior teams at Castletown before moving on to Penrith AFC. He also played for Cumbria Academy and qualified as a referee.
Pursuing his ambition of following his father into the police service, after leaving secondary education he went to study professional policing at the University of Cumbria.
Despite conditions for study not being ideal because of COVID restrictions, he enjoyed his first year at the university and scored a high grade of 93 per cent in his exams.
It was to celebrate the end of their first year of study that Jack and some fellow University of Cumbria students went for a night out in Carlisle on May 30.
His girlfriend had been with him that day and remained at home when he went out with his student friends.
The plan was for Jack to stay at the home of a friend in Houghton after the evening out, and he took an overnight bag with him when he drove there from his Stainton home.
The group spent several hours at a number of bars in Carlisle before Jack, his friend and her boyfriend were picked up by the young woman’s father around midnight and driven back to Houghton.
The students were all “drunk, but in control,” the inquest heard.
Jack had been in touch with his girlfriend by phone through the evening and she urged him to remain in Houghton as planned.
His friend in Houghton said they would have got him a taxi or arranged a lift if necessary, but he had quietly left the house with his overnight bag before anybody became aware of his movements and set off towards Penrith in his black VW Polo.
He was in contact with his girlfriend during the journey, with her again urging Jack not to drive, but they lost touch with each other when his phone ran out of power. She described what he had done as being “so out of character”.
Sergeant Steve Wakefield, chief accident investigator for Cumbria police, said Jack’s car had just left a 30mph zone in Newbiggin and entered a 40mph stretch of road leading to the Clickham Inn road junction.
The car was travelling at between 59 and 75mph as Jack was negotiating a gentle curve in the road and two of the car’s tyres hit a roadside verge. Jack tried to steer the car back on to the road, causing it to cross the highway and hit a wall on the other side.
Jack suffered fatal head injuries in the collision, and a subsequent toxicology report showed he had 215mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood in his system, the legal driving limit being 80mg per 100 ml.
Sergeant Wakefield concluded that the collision, at around 2.20am on May 31, was probably the result of excessive vehicle speed and impairment caused by alcohol.
Summing up the evidence, assistant coroner for Cumbria Craig Smith said Jack had had a very bright future ahead of him and was “kind, thoughtful to a fault and very well regarded by those who met him”.
Jack’s family received more than 700 cards and messages of condolence after his death.
