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A young mum-of-two tragically died after her partner’s car, which had allegedly been described as “f****d”, left the road and crashed into a tree.
Kirstey Walker was just 25 years old when she died in the crash, which happened on the A1079, near York, in June last year. She had been a passenger in her partner, Karl Moss’, VW Bora which had been towing a trailer at the time of the crash.
An inquest into Kirstey’s death, heard that Mr Moss had previously described his car as “f****d” and told a friend of Kirstey’s that it was “just the rust keeping it together”. The inquest also heard from a forensic collision investigator, who told the inquest that Mr Moss’ “began to fail” which is what led to the crash, HullLive reports.
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Kirstey, who has two children, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash last year after suffering a fatal head injury. The car had drifted across the road on the A1079 and into a ditch, before hitting a tree. Emergency services were called to the scene but there was nothing that could be done to save Kirstey.
The inquest heard from three witnesses who claimed that Mr Moss had said that his car was not roadworthy. Two men allegedly examined the VW Bora prior to the fatal crash and offered to buy it for scrap, as they claimed that the car’s rear axle was twisted and the vehicle sagged when a foot was put on the rear towbar.
They told the inquest that Mr Moss had described the car as being “f****d” and told them that it was a “workhouse”. Mr Moss denied making such comments, he told the inquest that he remembered meeting the men but that they were aggressive when he refused to sell them the vehicle.
But the inquest also heard from a friend of Kirstey’s, who claimed that she had also spoken to Mr Moss about buying the car and said that he had joked that it was “just the rust keeping it together”. She also alleges that Mr Moss disclosed a problem with the steering and described the car as being “knackered”, but Mr Moss denies these claims.
Peter Gallagher – a qualified mechanic and a forensic collision investigator of 12 years – investigated the crash scene and the car and told the inquest that the VW Bora had been towing an unladen car transporter type trailer. Though he was unable to confirm the speed the car had been travelling at, he told the inquest that there was nothing to indicate that it had been travelling at excessive speed.
He told the inquest that his findings revealed the car had rotated clockwise across the three lane-wide road, leaving marks to the road surface, before it hit the tree sideways on. The car’s handbrake was working and the brakes were in good working order.
He said: “I’m more than confident that there was not a pre-existing fault with the steering”, though he did identify damage to the suspension. He told the court that the bottom arm offside of the suspension was heavily corroded, in a process which would have occurred over years. However, he said that this damage was extremely well hidden, to the extent that even a mechanic examining the car for an MOT would be unlikely to find it.
Mr Gallagher’s investigation of the VW Bora was hampered by damage caused to the front offside suspension by a forklift in the recovery yard in which it was stored. While part of the suspension was detached when he examined it, he could not tell whether this was caused by the forklift or related to the collision previously.
He told the inquest that he believed the likeliest scenario was that the suspension began to fail via a partial detachment. This would have led to vague steering, causing the driver to oversteer and put too much input in, which would have led to complete loss of control.
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Speaking at the inquest, Mr Moss said that he had bought the VW Bora from a neighbour about eight weeks prior to the fatal crash. He said that the car was 15 to 20 years old.
The court heard that, immediately prior to the crash, the steering “felt light” and Mr Moss had tried to correct it. He said that he thought he had been driving around 50 to 55 miles per hour at the time of the crash.
The inquest also heard from Kirstey’s mum, Alisha Travis, who paid tribute to her daughter, who was born in Derbyshire, before she moved to York and then settled in Hull. She said: “Kirstey always loved animals. At just two years old, she learned to ride ponies and would go on to compete at shows. As an adult, she would go on to own dogs, cats, guinea pigs, chickens and a horse called Lola.”
She said that her daughter was a devoted mum of two little girls and was a “loving, caring person”. She added: “Kirstey was everything to me, my daughter, soulmate and friend.”
The inquest continues today (Thursday, April 21).
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