Shropshire Star

Man died when he crashed his car while over the drink-drive limit near Clun

A man died when he crashed his car while over the drink-drive limit, a coroner has concluded.

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The A488 between Clun and Colebatch. Picture: Google StreetView

Alexander James Osborn-Horrocks, known as Alex, died when he crashed his black Nissan Aventura while driving on the A488.

Mr Osborn-Horrocks, 32, of Lydbury North, was found to have a blood alcohol reading of 160 - the legal limit is 80.

John Ellery, coroner for Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin, said there was also evidence that Mr Osborn-Horrocks had taken cocaine.

The crash took place outside Colebatch sometime after 11pm on Sunday, May 7.

Mr Osborn-Horrocks was discovered by another motorist, Liam Evans, sometime after 11.35pm.

Mr Ellery heard that Mr Osborne-Horrocks had been seen outside the Sun Inn in Clun at around 10.50pm.

The inquest was told that he had been with two women in separate cars travelling towards Craven Arms shortly after, but had decided to turn around and head towards Bishops Castle.

Mr Ellery said that there was no evidence that any other vehicle had been involved in the crash, or that there were any other witnesses to it.

The inquest heard a statement from PC Stephen King, who had carried out an investigation into the crash, who said that vehicle had left the road and hit a cluster of trees before flipping over.

Mr Ellery said that Mr Osborne-Horrocks had been found outside the vehicle and that he had most likely been thrown out of the driver's window, as he was not wearing a seat belt.

The report from PC King said that he believed Mr Osborn-Horrocks had started to lose control while trying to negotiate a long shallow right had bend, when the car started to oversteer.

Mr Ellery was told that the collision with a cluster of trees had ripped the off-side wheel from the car, and caused "massive" damage to the front of the vehicle.

The evidence from PC King added that he believed the car had been travelling at a "relatively high speed" at the time of the crash.

No defects were found with either the car or the road surface.

Mr Ellery said that a post mortem had confirmed Mr Osborn-Horrocks had died from multiple injuries and he recorded a conclusion of death by road traffic collision.

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