Shrewsbury pensioner injured in crash died with Covid, inquest told
A coroner has ruled that an 88 year-old Shrewsbury man who suffered a head injury after being hit by a van driver's wing mirror died with Covid-19.
A Home Office pathologist was called in to the case of the death of retired joiner John Anthony Evans, of Mount Pleasant Road, who had been crossing the road near his home on December 23, 2020.
Forensic pathologist Brett Lockyer was asked to make a ruling because police had "reason to suspect" the van driver of a criminal offence, the inquest heard.
Mr Evans had been taken to the Royal Stoke Hospital following the crash. But he was transferred to the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Hospital, near Oswestry, where he died on January 15, 2021.
Senior coroner John Ellery said that the need for a Home Office pathologist explained the time delay in sorting out the inquest.
Sitting at Shirehall, in Shrewsbury today, Mr Ellery recorded that the cause of death had been Covid pneumonia, contributed to by the head injury but it was not the main cause.
Mr Evans had probably caught Covid while in hospital.
Mr Ellery said: "The head injury was not an immediate threat to his life. The pathologist considers that the injury contributed to the death but did not cause it."
Mr Ellery went on to say that the Crown Prosecution Service had decided that there had been insufficient evidence to prosecute the van driver.
The coroner recorded that Mr Evans' death had been due to a "natural cause, contributed to by a road traffic collision."
At the time police said the van driver stopped at the scene and no arrests were made.
Onlookers reported multiple police cars at the scene, including an unmarked vehicle, which closed the road for at least an hour.
West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) sent two ambulances which were joined by a Midlands Air Ambulance ground team.
