Pursuit contributed to fatal crash, jury finds

A jury has concluded that a police officer's late-night road pursuit of a young couple's van contributed to a crash which killed them.

Ryan Duffy, 24, and Ellie Marsden, 20, both from Wigan, were found dead inside their vehicle, a Citroen Berlingo, at about 07:30 BST on 5 September, 2021, after it had left the B6260 near Drybeck, Cumbria.

A number of factors contributed to the fatal crash, the jury found, including Mr Duffy driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, and the couple not wearing seatbelts.

A Cumbria Police spokesman said the force would respect the findings of the inquest and would consider any "actions, learning, training or changes in procedures that need to take place".

PC Craig Stevenson, who had followed the couple, had previously told assistant coroner Joseph Hart during the inquest that he "didn't believe it was a pursuit".

The inquest heard the couple had travelled from their Greater Manchester homes to Appleby-in-Westmorland at 22:00 BST on 4 September, where they spent two hours in a pub.

At about 00:30 BST, CCTV footage showed them returning to their van.

The inquest was told they were spotted by PC Stevenson, a standard response officer on patrol, who decided to follow them and saw them go the wrong way along a one-way street, the inquest was told.

His own Ford Transit vehicle data showed he repeatedly travelled above the speed limit both in Appleby-in-Westmorland and then out on to rural country roads, as he attempted to catch up with the Berlingo.

Both vehicles turned on to a country lane known as Long Rigg but the officer lost sight of the van.

He stopped 170 metres (557ft) from where the crashed vehicle was later found and sent a radio message to his control room, the inquest heard.

"Just had a vehicle make off from me on the back roads from Appleby," the message said.

PC Stevenson told the inquest he was trained to follow and stop vehicles but not to engage in any pursuit which, he explained, was a "high-risk activity".

At no stage, he told jurors, did he believe he was involved in a "spontaneous pursuit", as defined by College of Policing policy.

After listening to evidence over the course of a week, jurors concluded, on the balance of probabilities, that Mr Duffy had become aware of the officer's presence and had taken evasive action.

The 11-strong jury concluded there were a number of other factors which contributed to the couple's deaths.

One was excess alcohol, with a post-mortem reading from Mr Duffy's bloodstream showing he was between two and three times the legal drink-drive limit, with cocaine and ketamine also found in his system.

Another factor, jurors found, was driver error and a third factor was that the couple had not been wearing seat belts.

The fourth was PC Stevenson following the van.

"On the balance of probabilities the police officer was engaged in a spontaneous pursuit of Ryan, and this contributed to causing the crash," jurors concluded.

Relatives of Ms Marsden wept as the conclusions were delivered by a jury foreman.

The coroner offered his sympathies to the couple's loved ones.

"There is literally nothing I can say to diminish your loss and the tragedy of your loss," he said.

Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.