WHAT exactly happened to cause the accident which tragically killed the four members of Warrington band Viola Beach and their manager may never be known.
This was the view of Cheshire coroner Nicholas Rheinberg at the conclusion of the inquest at Warrington Town Hall this afternoon.
It was a view echoed by Supt Martin Cleworth, of Cheshire Police, in a statement after the hearing.
He said: “There are many questions unanswered. Cheshire Police has no jurisdiction in Sweden.
“There will be speculation. But the fact is, we don’t know what actually happened. We just don’t know.”
Supt Cleworth would not, however, be drawn on the question of whether Swedish police had carried out a full and proper investigation.
It was not, he said, for Cheshire police to comment on the work of colleagues in Sweden where there was a different legal system.
The coroner recorded verdicts that all four members of the group – musicians Kris Leonard, 20, River Reeves, 19, Jack Dakin, 19 and Tomas Lowe, 27 and their manager Craig Tarry, aged 32, had died as a result of a road traffic collision.
He said it was not for him to speculate about what might happened in the fateful moments before the crash. That might never be known.
But he expressed his sympathy to the members of the grieving families who had suffered a “most fearful tragedy” and a terrible loss.
He said he would provide copies of all written evidence to the families. It was unfortunate that he could not provide all the answers.
The tragedy occurred on February 13 after the band had performed at a music festival near Stockholm. They were returning to their hotel in Stockholm.
The inquest heard that drink and drugs played no part in the deaths of the five young men who were, it was stressed, not just members of a band but also firm friends.
They died after their Nissan Qashqai crashed through two bridge barriers and dropped more than 80 ft into a canal below at Stockholm.
The inquest heard that all the deceased died from head injuries, other than Thomas Lowe, who died from drowning.
Craig Tarry was driving and it was known that he had refused drinks at the festival.
Tests showed no one had taken drugs. Small amounts of alcohol were found in all the band members., but none in Mr Tarry.
Police went to the scene following reports that the barrier at the scene of the accident had failed. They were unaware a car was in the canal until they arrived at the scene and saw debris, including what appeared to be a roof rack on the road.
Witnesses had seen the band’s vehicle driving in the right hand lane as it approached the bridge, moving to the left lane where there was a shorter queue of vehicles waiting while the bridge was raised to allow a ship to pass through on the canal. It then moved onto a left hand verge passing stationary traffic. The vehicle had moved back into the centre of the road and was straddling the white line as it approached the barrier.
Although there was one faulty light on one warning sign, there were 10 other wanting lights, including flashing warning lights which were all working.
Mr Rheinberg said the Swedish police had been very co-operative and two officers from Cheshire police had been out to Sweden, not to re-open investigations but to see the scene for themselves.
A black box device had been recovered from the vehicle but it had not been possible to get any information from it because of water damage. The inquest heard that the device was not to be compared with the type of black box used in aircraft.
The inquest heard that members of the crew of the vessel approaching the bridge along the canal thought they saw something fall into the water. But they thought it was ice dislodged when the bridge was raised. The ship passed over the car, which was upside down on the canal bed, without touching it.
It was believed the car rotated in the air as it fell and entered the water backwards. The rear seat passengers, who were not wearing seat belts, were thrown out.
Staff in the control room operating the bridge heard a noise, but when they looked they could see nothing wrong. It was assumed the car had already fallen into the canal.
The bridge was thought to have raised about three metres, leaving a one meter gap between it and the road surface, when the impact occurred. It was not thought the car was speeding – witnessed said it appeared to be under control as it approached the bridge.
But it crashed through two barriers before reaching the bridge.
After the hearing, Supt Cleworth read a statement on behalf of the bereaved families in which they thanked the people of Warrington, and of the wider community, for the support they had given over the last 10 months and in particular for helping to ensure Viola Beach got to number one in the charts.
