Inquests have been formally opened by a coroner after the deaths of a teenager and a young man in separate road crash tragedies which occurred on successive days earlier this month.
Fourteen-year-old Ted Southward died at the scene of a collision between a mountain bike and a silver Kia Sorento on Friday, April 8 at Prospect Hill, Waberthwaite. This occurred at the junction of Lowther Street and the A595.
Police were called at 8.06pm on that date but Ted, of Waberthwaite, was pronounced dead at the scene despite passers-by and members of the emergency services giving CPR.
Ted was described in a family tribute issued in the aftermath as “one in a million, loved and respected by so many.”
An inquest into his death was formally opened by Dr Nicholas Shaw, assistant coroner for Cumbria, sitting at Cockermouth this morning. Dr Shaw said the brief circumstances were believed — at this initial stage — to be that Ted was riding a bicycle “adapted with a small petrol-powered motor” down Lowther Street.
It had come to the junction, the inquest heard, and “appears to have failed to stop at that junction”. A collision is then believed to have occurred between the bicycle and a vehicle travelling southbound on the A595 from Muncaster towards Bootle.
A police investigation into the crash is continuing, and the inquest was adjourned to a provisional full hearing date of September 1.
Dr Shaw also formally opened an inquest into the death of 25-year-old Ryan Hindson, who died the next day, on Saturday, April 9. This followed a head-on crash between a car and an HGV. He had been travelling eastbound on the A66 between Penrith and Appleby, close to the village of Warcop.
“Ryan’s vehicle is then said to have veered into the opposite carriageway and the collision occurred,” said Dr Shaw of preliminary findings he had been offered.
Ryan, of Warcop, was pronounced dead at the scene despite a passer-by administering CPR. In a statement issued after his death, relatives described him as a “larger than life character who made a big impression wherever he went.”
Dr Shaw adjourned this inquest to a provisional date of September 6.
In the wake of both tragedies, Cumbria police appealed for anyone with information to report it online, at www.cumbria.police.uk/report-it, or by calling 101.
