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BBC News
6 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
Family of runner hit by car at Stretham village want road changes
The family of a businessman said they wanted changes made to the section of road where he was fatally hit by a car while Chamberlain, 52, died in hospital three days after a collision involving a Vauxhall car on the A1123 at Stretham in Cambridgeshire on 17 August driver told an inquest that she was traveling at the 60mph (97km/h) speed limit and, as she "proceeded down the incline" of a road bridge, a man "suddenly emerged into the road".His wife Karen Chamberlain said "something has got to change" to prevent a fatality from happening again. Mr Chamberlain was an associate of the tech billionaire Mike Lynch, who also died after his superyacht the Bayesian sank off the coast of Sicily on 19 runner was crossing the A1123 at a point where a public footpath intersects the Chamberlain told the BBC she had visited the road several times since his most of these visits, she reported seeing cars overtaking or drivers rapidly accelerating when they saw the 60mph sign. Mrs Chamberlain said her husband had been "safety conscious" and would wear one earbud while running, but leave the other ear free."The speed limit should never be 60mph, never," she said."Something has got to change... I don't want it happening again and it felt very much like the coroner was supporting those calls." Recalling the moment she was told about the accident, she said: "[I remember] two policemen walking up my drive and the worst feeling ever."I hope no-one ever has to go through that."At an inquest on Tuesday, area coroner Caroline Jones concluded that Mr Chamberlain died as the result of a road traffic shared concerns that the humpback bridge was an "irredeemable barrier" to visibility for pedestrians and other road said she would write to Cambridgeshire County Council as the highways authority for further information before deciding whether a report to help prevent future deaths was necessary. 'Inherently dangerous' Mr Chamberlain's father, Grenville Chamberlain, backed the plea to assess the section of road: "We need to sort it out and tomorrow, it's not soon enough."I think the transport department needs to look very critically at what is going on there. It is inherently dangerous."There's something like 50 or 60m at the most from the summit of the hill to the crossing point."If you're travelling at 60mph, you haven't got the slightest chance of stopping if there is something or someone in that road." He called for the speed limit to be reduced and vegetation at the site to be cut the inquest, police forensic collision investigator PC Ian Masters said it was "not an ideal crossing point by any stretch of the imagination".When asked by the coroner if he thought a collision was unavoidable, Mr Masters replied: "Yes, that's correct." Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
The Independent
7 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
Runner who died in crash took up sport after fraud charge in US, inquest told
A much-loved father who was fatally struck by a car while out running got into the sport after he was charged with fraud in the US alongside tech billionaire Mike Lynch, an inquest has heard. Chief financial officer Stephen Chamberlain was crossing a road between two parts of a bridleway when he was struck by a Vauxhall car that had crested a humpback bridge. The 52-year-old was an associate of Mr Lynch, who died after the Bayesian superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily on August 19 last year. Mr Chamberlain sustained a traumatic head injury in the collision on the A1123 near Stretham, Cambridgeshire, on August 17 last year. The injury was deemed unsurvivable and his life support was withdrawn three days later. Both Mr Chamberlain and Mr Lynch were cleared of a fraud charge in June last year following a trial at a federal court in San Francisco, California. Mr Chamberlain's widow Karen Chamberlain said in a statement that her husband got involved in running after he was charged with fraud. 'He discovered it helped him mentally stay calm and focus on what was ahead,' said Mrs Chamberlain, in a statement read by lawyer Sally Hobson, representing Mr Chamberlain's family. She said her husband would 'meticulously spend hours planning his routes' and competed in ultra-distance races. He was 'safety conscious', she said, and he would wear one earbud but leave the other ear free. 'That was no exception on the day – his other earbud was left at home,' Mrs Chamberlain said. She said he had been home from the US for two months and was 'making up for lost time, enjoying getting his life back'. She said that on the day of the collision he had planned to run 17 miles, starting in Ely and ending in Longstanton, Cambridgeshire. He was just over six miles into his run when he was struck by a car. The coroner directed that the female driver of the car should not be named at Tuesday's hearing in Alconbury Weald, Cambridgeshire. The driver said, in a statement summarised by area coroner Caroline Jones, that as she 'approached the bridge she proceeded down the incline' and a man 'suddenly emerged into the road'. She said she saw Mr Chamberlain 'looking to his left away from her and only looked to his right just before the collision'. She said she had 'braked hard and steered to the nearside', but 'he was too close' and the front offside of the vehicle collided with him. She said she had been driving within the 60mph speed limit, had been on her way to a shop in Newmarket, Suffolk and had 'no time pressure', the coroner said. Motorbike rider Grahame Cornwall, who witnessed the collision, said in a statement that Mr Chamberlain was thrown 'approximately 15 feet' up in the air. 'In his opinion the driver wouldn't have seen anything until she was on top of the rise (of the bridge) and wouldn't have had a chance to stop,' the coroner said. 'He said the entire incident must have been a matter of seconds.' Police forensic collision investigator Pc Ian Masters said it was 'not an ideal crossing point by any stretch of the imagination'. Asked by the coroner if it was his view that it was not an avoidable collision, Mr Masters replied: 'Yes, that's correct.' The coroner recorded a conclusion that Mr Chamberlain died as the result of a road traffic collision. She said she shared the concerns of the family that the humpback bridge is an 'irredeemable barrier' to visibility for pedestrians and other road users. She said she would write to Cambridgeshire County Council as the highways authority to request further information before deciding whether a report to help prevent future deaths was necessary. Mr Chamberlain's daughter Ella said in a statement to the inquest that her father was the 'perfect role model in every way'. His son Teddy said in a statement: 'He was the glue of our family, always ready with an answer.' 'The mental and physical strength he showed was beyond anything I could imagine,' he said. He added that he was the 'greatest dad I could ever have asked for and I'm so proud to be his son'. Mr Chamberlain's father, Grenville Chamberlain, told the inquest: 'Steve was very well respected in every walk of his life. 'His funeral was attended by 500 people.' Mr Chamberlain was the co-defendant in a US trial alongside Mr Lynch, where both men were cleared last year of conducting a massive fraud over the sale of software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 2011. HP acquired Cambridge-based Autonomy, founded by Mr Lynch in 1996, for 11 billion dollars (£8.35 billion) but later wrote down its value by 8.8 billion dollars (£6.68 billion) and asked the US justice department to investigate fraud. Mr Chamberlain, a former vice-president of finance at the company, was accused of artificially inflating Autonomy's revenues and making false and misleading statements to auditors, analysts and regulators in 2018. Both he and Mr Lynch were found not guilty of the charge in June last year following a trial at a federal court in San Francisco. In a statement outside court, read by lawyer Elena Abraham, the family said they 'still have questions unanswered'. 'We will be inviting the police to refer the case to the Crown Prosecution Service for consideration,' the statement said. Mrs Chamberlain said outside court that after her husband was cleared he 'came home and we just had our lives ahead'. 'Steve, his first thing was 'we've got to make memories for the kids and family and friends, we've just now got to do lots of things to make memories'', she said. 'And very sadly they were taken away from us.'
BBC News
7 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
Runner was 'getting life back' before fatal Stretham crash
An associate of the tech billionaire Mike Lynch had been "enjoying getting his life back" when he was fatally struck by a car while out on a run, an inquest Chamberlain died in hospital three days after a collision involving a Vauxhall car on the A1123 at Stretham in Cambridgeshire on 17 August 52-year-old had previously faced fraud charges in the US alongside Mr Lynch, who died after his superyacht Bayesian sank off the coast of Sicily on 19 August last a statement read by lawyer Sally Hobson, Mr Chamberlain's widow Karen said he had taken up running after the fraud charge, and it had "helped him mentally stay calm and focus on what was ahead". Mr Chamberlain and Mr Lynch were found not guilty of the charge in June last year following a trial at a federal court in San Francisco. Mrs Chamberlain said her husband would "meticulously spend hours planning his routes" and competed in ultra-distance was "safety conscious", she said, and he would wear one earbud but leave the other ear told the inquest at New Shire Hall, Alconbury Weald, that he had been home from the US for two months and was "making up for lost time, enjoying getting his life back". 'A matter of seconds' The inquest heard the collision happened as Mr Chamberlain was crossing a road between two parts of a bridleway and he was struck by the car as it crested a humpback a statement summarised by area coroner Caroline Jones, the driver involved said that as she "approached the bridge she proceeded down the incline" and a man "suddenly emerged into the road".She said she saw Mr Chamberlain "looking to his left away from her and only looked to his right just before the collision".She said she had "braked hard and steered to the nearside", but "he was too close" and the front offside of the vehicle collided with said she had been driving within the 60mph speed limit, had been on her way to a shop in Newmarket, Suffolk and had "no time pressure", the coroner said.A witness statement said Mr Chamberlain was thrown "approximately 15 feet" in the air and "the entire incident must have been a matter of seconds".The coroner said the female driver of the car should not be named at the hearing. Police forensic collision investigator PC Ian Masters said it was "not an ideal crossing point by any stretch of the imagination".Asked by the coroner if it was his view that it was not an avoidable collision, Mr Masters replied: "Yes, that's correct".The coroner concluded that Mr Chamberlain died as the result of a road traffic shared the concerns of the family that the humpback bridge was an "irredeemable barrier" to visibility for pedestrians and other road said she would write to Cambridgeshire County Council as the highways authority for further information before deciding whether a report to help prevent future deaths was Chamberlain's daughter Ella said in a statement to the inquest that her father was the "perfect role model in every way".His son Teddy said in a statement: "He was the glue of our family, always ready with an answer."The mental and physical strength he showed was beyond anything I could imagine."He added that he was the "greatest dad I could ever have asked for and I'm so proud to be his son". Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
08-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Plans for 126 affordable homes for land at Stretham refused
A developer has been refused permission to build 126 affordable homes after the plans were branded "too big" for a homes proposed for a field on the edge of Stretham, off the A10 near Ely in Cambridgeshire, would have been run by Stonewater Housing outline application to build 83 affordable homes at the site was approved by East Cambridgeshire District Council last Frost, a representative for the applicant, said the latest plans for 126 affordable homes were essentially proposing an extra 43 houses on an already approved site. According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Mr Frost, of Long Term Land Limited, told councillors at a planning committee meeting on 7 May that there was a "significant shortage of affordable housing" in the district, following "many years of persistent under-delivery" of affordable homes. He said at the time of the application being submitted that there were more than 1,000 households on the district council's housing councillor David Brown highlighted the developer had only been granted permission for 83 homes last year - and asked why they had not asked for permission to build 126 homes then. 'Significant need' Mr Frost said he did not think there was "an issue in principle of coming back and maximising the benefit of providing affordable housing where it is required".Planning officers agreed there had been an under-delivery of affordable housing over the years, adding there was a "significant need" for affordable housing across East they said the need for affordable homes in the Stretham and Little Thetford area ranged from 44 to 72 homes, which they said would be "appropriately met" by the previously approved plans for 83 homes on the recommended that the application for 126 homes should therefore be refused, which was endorsed by a majority of councillors in a vote. The developer still has permission to build up to 83 affordable homes on the site, and said more detailed plans will be submitted later this can also appeal the district council's decision to refuse permission for the 126 homes. Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
