Dylan Crossey: Coroner slams "utterly reprehensible" behaviour of BMW driver who killed Penwortham schoolboy

A driver who knocked down and killed a 15-year-old has been slammed by the coroner, as an inquest concluded seven years after the schoolboy's death.

Dylan Crossey, a pupil at All Hallow's in Penwortham, died after being knocked off his bicycle in Chainhouse Lane, Whitestake in October 2016 by a BMW driven by New Longton man, David Harwood.

"I'm so sorry" - click here for the public apology of David Harwood from 2021 Today, senior coroner Dr James Adeley called Mr Harwood's behaviour "utterly reprehensible", and slammed police officers for poor record keeping which caused "not inconsiderable difficulties resolving what happened on the night in question."

He concluded that Mr Harwood had been above the drink drive limit and been inputting a postcode into his car's satellite navigation system at time of impact with Dylan - something Mr Harwood has always denied.

Dr Adeley recorded a narrative verdict, having not been able to satisfy the required elements of unlawful killing.

Dylan's family's solicitor, Sefton Kwasnik welcomed the "very damning" conclusion, but vowed that the fight for more information will continue.

What happened at the inquest?

Dr James Adeley spoke for 45-minutes at Preston's County Hall, concluding the inquest which first began in September 2021. Proceedings were halted after the coroner asked the CPS to consider new evidence, but when the CPS decided to take no action, the inquest process resumed. Dr Adeley privately re-listened to all the evidence recorded in 2021.

Click here to see why accident investigators said the crash that killed Dylan was "avoidable"

Today he summarised that Dylan's cause of death was blunt head trauma, caused by the collision with Mr Harwood's BMW. He outlined how Dylan had only been cycling in the road for a few seconds before being struck from behind at around 40mph, how Mr Harwood claimed not to see Dylan, failed to stop, and missed several opportunities to check the "extensive" damage to his car throughout the night, before handing himself into police at 8am the following morning.

Sat nav

Mr Harwood was on his way to see a woman he'd met on a dating site when the accident occured. He claims he had memorised her address and inputted it into his car's sat nav system before reaching the end of his road.

But in an interview given by his younger brother Neil on October 9, 2016, Neil told a police officer: "We were chatting in dad's kitchen. David was very upset and crying and at one stage he said he was sorry and hugged my Mum and Dad. David told me and dad that he was punching in the satnav and next he knew was bang."

Neil Harwood signed this statement as true, but in court repeatedly replied that "he couldn't be sure".

Dr Adeley said: "Neil Harwood's responses were evasive and he was a wholly unconvincing witness in court. He accepted the orifginal statement as the truth - that David Harwood had been inputting a postcode at the time of the collision, and that is why he had not seen Dylan.

Professional qualification in accident damage

Dr Adeley reiterated to court that Mr Harwood is a director and shareholder in HB Panelcraft, a large panel repair company undertaking repairs of accident damaged vehicles. Mr Harwood holds the Institute of the Motor Industry Vehicle Damage Assessor's qualification (VDA) and has undertaken this role for 18 years, seeing approximately 20 cars per week. Mr Harwood had assessed approximately one to two cars each year that he was aware had been involved in a collision with a pedestrian.

When questionned, David Harwood said that he had no idea what had hit his car but stated that the damage to the windscreen would not have occurred due to a collision with a stone or a bird.

Dr Adeley said: "It is my view that David Harwood's version of events has minimal credibility when he said he did not know that he had hit a person. David Harwood has specialist knowledge of accident damage and accepted that the most likely cause for the damage was collision with a person."

Damage was not checked

The coroner also took exception to Mr Harwood's lack of explanation as to why he did not stop and examine the car until the next morning.

He said: "In my view there is an obvious explanation as to why David Harwood did not examine his BMW and that is because he already strongly suspected that he had collided with a person and did not want to confirm this strong suspicion. If David Harwood had examined the car, with his professional knowledge he would have been left in no doubt that the damage to the car had been caused by a person.

"At the point of confirmation that he had collided with a person, that would require him to contact the police. This raises the question as to why David Harwood would need a reason to delay contacting the police. The damage to the car would not change, but the alcohol level in his blood stream would decrease the longer the night went on."

Mr Harwood contacted the police at 8am the next morning.

Alcohol

The inquest heard that in total, David Harwood had consumed three pints of beer and two glasses of wine of unspecified size between 5.45 pm and the time of the collision.

Dr Adeley said: "On the balance of probabilities, I find that David Harwood have consumed too much alcohol that evening to drive safely."

Avoided scene of accident on way home

Dr Adeley said he believed that Mr Harwood did not input his home address into the sat nav, but chose another PR4 post code, so to deliberately avoid the accident collision site with his damaged car.

He said: "I am left to conclude that David Harwood avoided the accident scene as he was either over the drink drive limit or concerned that he was over the drink drive limit".

He added: "Having had the opportunity to observe David Harwood in court and listen to his explanation, his version of events is implausible."

Conclusion

Dr Adeley said he had considered an unlawful killing verdict, but all six elements required for that outcome could not be proved.

He said: "Whilst David Harwood's actions of not stopping and attending a romantic date after colliding with Dylan are utterly reprehensible, they are not part of the matters that I can take into account when considering the conduct that led to the collision and whether or not this was gross."

A narrative verdict was recorded. Although it names David Harwood, does not determine either criminal liability or civil liability.

In 2018 Mr Harwood was prosecuted for causing death by careless driving but was formally acquitted due to a lack of evidence.

Family reaction

Dylan's mum, Tracey Milligan, said she was "not satisfied" with the outcome of the inquest, and still hopes to get more information from the local communty on what happened that night.

Solicitor Sefton Kwasnik said that work will continue into the conduct of the police in the investigation.

He vowed: "As long as Tracey has breath in her body and I'm around, we will not stop in the fight for truth."

IOPC investigation into potential misconduct by three police officers

In May 2023, it was announced that the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) had stepped in to examine Lancashire Constabulary’s handling of the incident, having obtained a ‘substantial amount of material’ relating to the police investigation.

The IOPC has confirmed the investigation is still ongoing.