Latest news with #Craven-Jones
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Yahoo
Teenagers died after car collided with tree in Staffordshire crash
Three teenagers died after the car they were travelling in collided with a tree, an inquest has heard. Dafydd Huw Craven-Jones, 18, and Morgan Jones, 17, from Wrexham, North Wales, and 17-year-old Sophie Bates from Stafford died after the crash on 25 May last year. Staffordshire Coroner's Court heard Mr Craven-Jones was the driver of the black Ford KA when it collided "head-on with an established tree" off the B5012 Cannock Road, in Pilkington. He and the front seat passenger Mr Jones were both declared dead at the scene and Sophie Bates, one of the rear seat passengers, died at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital on 28 May. Assistant coroner Kelly Dixon recorded a short form cause of death as road traffic collision. "As the vehicle travelled over a humped back bridge towards Penkridge, at speed, it suffered a loss of control," she said. A tracking app on passenger Brooke Varley's phone "indicated a maximum speed of 85mph had been reached at some point during the 15-minute journey". The inquest heard evidence that, while the driver was wearing his seat belt, the front side passenger was not wearing his correctly and neither rear seat passengers were wearing seat belts. Ms Dixon said she was satisfied on the balance of probability that "inappropriate speed over the humped back bridge" caused a loss of control. The assistant coroner said she would issue a prevention of future deaths report to Staffordshire highways authority after a previous fatal collision on the same stretch of road. Read more from Sky News: In a statement released after the collision, Ms Varley, the sole survivor of the crash, said she was "so upset to have lost such amazing people from [her] life". Both Mr Craven-Jones and Mr Jones were keen rugby players and played for Wrexham RFC's youth team, who described them as "good friends on and off the field of play". In a tribute to Mr Craven-Jones issued after his death, his family described him as "a beautiful soul" and "loving person". Meanwhile, Mr Jones's family said he was a "very popular young man" who was "loved by everybody". Ms Bates's family said their "Princess Sophie" would be "sorely missed and loved eternally".
BBC News
05-02-2025
- BBC News
Wrexham teens died in crash after new driver sped into tree
Three teenagers died in a crash after the driver lost control of the car while travelling at speed over a humpback bridge and hit a tree, an inquest has Hûw Craven-Jones, 18, from Wrexham was driving the Ford Ka on Cannock Road in Penkridge, Staffordshire, just before midnight on 25 May last year when the crash and Morgan Jones, 17 - also from Wrexham - were pronounced dead at the scene, while Sophie Bates, 17, from Stafford, died three days later in other rear seat passenger, Brooke Varley, was seriously injured but survived. The inquest held in Stafford on Wednesday was told neither of the girls sitting were wearing seatbelts and Mr Jones was not wearing his correctly, but Mr Craven-Jones was wearing his the night of the crash, Mr Craven-Jones, who had held his driving licence for five months, had driven to Penkridge in Staffordshire from Wrexham to pick up Mr Jones, who was at a house party Sophie Bates and Brooke Varley also got into the car and the four went for a drive to Cannock, before heading back on the same road in the direction of Richard Moores from Staffordshire Police told the hearing Ms Varley had said Mr Craven-Jones was driving "a bit fast" on the way back from Cannock and she had asked him to slow down, while telling Ms Bates she "didn't like the way the car was driving".Ms Varley told police at the time that she had a "rollercoaster feeling" and was holding on to the headrest of the passenger seat in front of her when she felt the car swerve and then blacked woke to hear someone on the phone to the emergency services. It is not known how fast the car was travelling at the time of the accident. A tracker app on Ms Varley's phone showed a top speed of 85mph during the journey - but Sgt Moores said this was not reliable.A Snapchat video recovered from Ms Bates' phone showed a video Mr Craven-Jones had made when driving earlier in the evening, in which he said he was worried he would get a ticket for driving 90mph in a 70mph inquest was also told warning signs for the bridge had been under consideration for improvement by Staffordshire County Highways. Giving her conclusions of death by road traffic collision, Kelly Dixon, assistant coroner for south Staffordshire, said on the balance of probabilities " inappropriate speed" had led to the Craven-Jones was a new driver, having passed his test five months previously, in November 2023, she fact that no seat belts were worn in the back of the car and at least one of the girls collided with Mr Craven-Jones was likely to have contributed to his injuries, she Dixon said she would be making a prevention of future deaths report to Staffordshire County Highways regarding the hazard road markings and signage for the bridge where the accident took place, which had been "under consideration for improvement" since January 2024, but which still had not have been three crashes on the road since 2017, two with fatalities.
Sky News
05-02-2025
- Sky News
Teenagers died after car collided with tree in Staffordshire crash
Three teenagers died after the car they were travelling in collided with a tree, an inquest has heard. Dafydd Huw Craven-Jones, 18, and Morgan Jones, 17, from Wrexham, North Wales, and 17-year-old Sophie Bates from Stafford died after the crash on 25 May last year. Staffordshire Coroner's Court heard Mr Craven-Jones was the driver of the black Ford KA when it collided "head-on with an established tree" off the B5012 Cannock Road, in Pilkington. He and the front seat passenger Mr Jones were both declared dead at the scene and Sophie Bates, one of the rear seat passengers, died at Birmingham 's Queen Elizabeth Hospital on 28 May. Assistant coroner Kelly Dixon recorded a short form cause of death as road traffic collision. "As the vehicle travelled over a humped back bridge towards Penkridge, at speed, it suffered a loss of control," she said. A tracking app on passenger Brooke Varley's phone "indicated a maximum speed of 85mph had been reached at some point during the 15-minute journey". The inquest heard evidence that, while the driver was wearing his seat belt, the front side passenger was not wearing his correctly and neither rear seat passengers were wearing seat belts. Ms Dixon said she was satisfied on the balance of probability that "inappropriate speed over the humped back bridge" caused a loss of control. The assistant coroner said she would issue a prevention of future deaths report to Staffordshire highways authority after a previous fatal collision on the same stretch of road. In a statement released after the collision, Ms Varley, the sole survivor of the crash, said she was "so upset to have lost such amazing people from [her] life". Both Mr Craven-Jones and Mr Jones were keen rugby players and played for Wrexham RFC's youth team, who described them as "good friends on and off the field of play". In a tribute to Mr Craven-Jones issued after his death, his family described him as "a beautiful soul" and "loving person". Meanwhile, Mr Jones's family said he was a "very popular young man" who was "loved by everybody".
