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Viola Beach manager drove through barriers into bridge, inquest told Viola Beach: crash that killed band and manager was awful tragedy, coroner says
(about 5 hours later)
Four members of a British indie band and their manager died after their car crashed through two motorway barriers before striking a bridge and falling 80ft (25 metres) into a shipping canal, an inquest has heard.Four members of a British indie band and their manager died after their car crashed through two motorway barriers before striking a bridge and falling 80ft (25 metres) into a shipping canal, an inquest has heard.
Craig Tarry, the 32-year-old manager, was driving the band back to a hotel in Stockholm in the early hours of the morning after they had played at a Swedish music festival.Craig Tarry, the 32-year-old manager, was driving the band back to a hotel in Stockholm in the early hours of the morning after they had played at a Swedish music festival.
Singer Kris Leonard, 20, guitarist River Reeves, 19, drummer Jack Dakin, 19, and Tarry died from head injuries. Bass guitarist Tomas Lowe, 27, drowned. The four-piece Warrington-based band had flown out from Manchester the night before and were considered “very much in the ascendancy” with foreign tours planned and a slot at Glastonbury.
Leonard was in the front passenger seat. Reeves, Dakin and Lowe were in the back of the vehicle and were not wearing seatbelts. The inquest into their deaths, held at Cheshire coroner’s court in Warrington, heard all five died at around 2am on 13 February earlier this year following the “inexplicable” crash.
The bridge over the Södertälje canal, 18 miles west of Stockholm, was raised while a tanker passed underneath when the band’s rented Nissan Qashqai overtook queueing traffic. Witnesses said the car clipped the wing mirror of a taxi, hit two barriers, and crashed into the bridge at 50mph, despite signs warning that the bridge was up. As the car drove down the motorway, flashing yellow lights warned that a section of road ahead was being raised to allow a vessel to pass underneath, the inquest heard.
In a statement, Lars Berglund, one of the investigating police officers, said the crash happened at about 2am on 13 February this year. Singer Kris Leonard, 20, guitarist River Reeves, 19, drummer Jack Dakin, 19, and Tarry died from head injuries sustained when the car plunged into the waterway; bass guitarist Tomas Lowe, 27, drowned. The inquest heard that the rented Nissan Qashqai took just two seconds to fall into the chilly canal.
The inquest in Warrington was shown CCTV footage of the Nissan stopping behind other cars at the barrier before squeezing past them on the hard shoulder and through the first of the barriers. The vehicle went through another barrier at speed before striking the partly opened open bridge and falling 80ft into the canal. A postmortem examination revealed that Tarry had not been drinking and had no traces of alcohol or illegal drugs in his blood.
The car was found upside down at the bottom of the freezing canal, from which divers recovered all five bodies. Swedish police said that one of the warning lights on the E4-20 northbound carriageway, 18 miles west of Stockholm, was not been working, but that there were almost a dozen other lights and signals that were operating.
Postmortem examination results showed that Tarry did not have any traces of alcohol or drugs in his blood at the time of the crash. The bridge was raised to allow a tanker to pass through the Södertälje canal when the band’s vehicle overtook queueing traffic before moving to the centre of the road.
The inquest continues. Black and white CCTV footage of the Nissan on the motorway was shown to the band’s family members at the inquest.
Witnesses told Swedish police that the Nissan stopped behind other vehicles at the barrier before squeezing past them on the hard shoulder and through the first of the barriers. The vehicle then went through another barrier and struck the partially open bridge at an estimated 56mph before falling into the canal.
The inquest heard that Tarry would have had time to stop the vehicle after hitting the first barrier but it continued in the middle of the road and hit the second barrier.
PC Michael Baddeley, who was sent to Sweden by the coroner to investigate the accident, told the inquest that Tarry, appeared to have complete control of the vehicle up until hitting the first barrier, and had sufficient distance to react and stop before crashing into the bridge.
The inquest heard that there was a delay in contacting the emergency services as there was some confusion about the accident. The crew of a passing boat saw the car fall but initially thought it was ice. The alarm was eventually raised around 30 minutes after the crash. When police arrived they found car parts strewn on the road and damage to the barriers.
The car was found upside down on the canal bed. Divers found Leonard in the front passenger and Tarry on the driver’s side. Reeves, Dakin and Lowe were all found outside the vehicle. They had all beenin the back of the car and had been thrown out of the vehicle as they had not been wearing seatbelts.
Graham Bennett, the band’s agent, was the last to see the five men alive. He told the inquest that the band had travelled from the UK to perform at Where’s the Music? festival in Norrköping.
They had gone on stage at 9.45pm and finished playing just after midnight, Bennett said.
Viola Beach, who had featured on the BBC new music strand Introducing, described their music as “indie pop”. They had toured Europe and America, played at the Leeds/Reading festival and were due to appear at Glastonbury.
Their debut album was released posthumously, and its first single Swings & Waterslides entered the official singles chart and topped the iTunes chart as tributes poured in from the music world.
Lowe’s mother Margaret told the court how her son had taught himself to play drums and bass guitar and had been a keen sportsman. She described the band as being “great friends” who looked out for each other.
Reeves’ father, Benedict Dunne,said the band had a “great camaraderie” and that his son had chosen music over an acting career to “follow his dreams”. “It was a world that he was happy in,” Dunne said.
Coroner Nicholas Rheinberg recorded a verdict of death by road traffic accident. He said it was an “awful tragedy” and the exact circumstances of the crash may remain a mystery. “It’s not for me to speculate what happened; it may never be known what happened,” he said.