Vange: Death driver was high on cocaine

Mum Jane Davis and even police officers were moved to tears during a three-hour hearing into the horrific head-on crash in London Road, Vange, in April last year.

A black Ford Fiesta carrying three sisters from Barking was hit head-on by a grey Peugeot 605, travelling towards the Five Bells roundabout in Basildon.

Carnage - the horrific crash scene in Vange's London Road last April Picture: TERENCE BUNCH

Hollie Davis, 16, a passenger in the Fiesta, was killed instantly and her 19-year-old sister Shona, who was driving, suffered serious internal injuries and died in Basildon Hospital the next day.

Peugeot driver Wayne Crawley, a 32-year-old Tarmac layer from North Crockerford, in Vange, was also killed instantly.

Three other men who were passengers in the car were injured.

Surviving sister Heather Davies, 18, who was in a critical condition after the crash, described the last moments before the accident.

"Me and Hollie were in the back singing along to Will Young's Evergreen when I remember looking up and seeing a car in front coming towards us."

Heather burst into tears as she told the court: "Me and Hollie screamed at Shona to do something, but then that was it."

Their car smashed into the out-of-control Peugeot 605, which had drifted onto the wrong side of the road.

A toxicology report showed Crawley had taken cocaine in "the hours leading up to the accident" and that he had been drinking.

Travelling at "substantially more than 40 miles per hour" his car hit the oncoming Fiesta head on, crashed into a white van and then into a stationary car parked in a layby, before stopping.

Sgt Alexander Wisbey, stationed at Laindon traffic police, revealed to the inquest that Crawley had a history of driving convictions.

Coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray also recorded a verdict of death as a result of an accident for Crawley.

Published Wednesday, January 22, 2003

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