One of three teenagers who died following a collision caused by a speeding fellow sixth former had previously sent chilling messages about the manner of his driving, an inquest heard yesterday.
In one message, Matilda Seccombe, 16, told driver Edward Spencer – who had passed his test just six weeks before the fatal collision – ‘You could have rolled the car, and I will kill you if we don’t die ourselves’, a coroner was told.
Matilda, who was known as Tilly, 17-year Harry Purcell and Frank Wormald, 16, were killed when the Ford Fiesta they were passengers in collided with an oncoming Fiat at 64mph as Spencer drove them home from school.
Spencer, who was 17 at the time of the April 2023 collision, pleaded guilty to three counts of causing death by careless driving earlier this year. Warwick Crown Court heard he he had a history of ‘showing off’ behind the wheel.
Spencer, of Newbold on Stour, Warwickshire, was sent to a young offenders’ institution for two years, as well as being handed an eight-year driving ban and told he must take an extended driving test when he applies for his licence back.
At the sentencing hearing in April, a judge was told how just weeks before the fatal collision, Tilly had sent farmer’s son Spencer a message in which she raised concerns about the standard of his driving, and that the defendant had replied: ‘Don’t underestimate me.’
Giving evidence to the inquest into Tilly and Harry’s deaths on Wednesday, Juliet Seccombe, 53, the schoolgirl’s mother, described how she had discovered messages about a previous near-miss which had been sent by her daughter to Spencer on the Snapchat app.
Mrs Seccombe, who runs her own soft furnishing business, said she had found the messages while looking for photos to use at her daughter’s funeral.
She said: ‘Tilly was having a go at Edward. She wrote, “You could have rolled the car, and I will kill you if we don’t die ourselves”.’
Her husband James, a 55-year-old parish councillor, added that he had seen a message Tilly had written to a friend about death shortly before the crash in which she said, ‘It won’t be long for me with Ed’s driving’.
Mr Seccombe told the coroner his daughter was ‘very single-minded’.
He added: ‘She thought she could probably deal with it on her own rather than come to me, and probably thought that if I knew, she would be straight back on the (school) bus.
‘We know from the evidence his behaviour was far from acceptable.
‘I do not believe she was killed by inexperience; she was killed by blatant stupidity.’
At the hearing in Coventry, the coroner went on to warn that a social media clamour for selfies and videos could be contributing to fatal road collisions.
After concluding that Tilly and Harry both died as a result of a road traffic collision, assistant coroner Linda Lee said on Wednesday that she would be issuing a Prevention of Future Death report on the back of the case.
Ms Lee told Coventry Coroner’s Court that she may write to the government and insurance industry bodies to highlight issues raised by the tragedy.
But she was urged by solicitor Patrick Maguire, representing Harry’s family, to consider contacting social media companies, after he referenced videos showing Spencer’s dangerous driving.
Spencer’s sentencing hearing had been told he had a ‘history of bad driving’ since he passed his test and that this had been evidenced by social media posts and videos.
One showed Spencer passing a mobility scooter at more than 50mph in the weeks prior to the crash on the B4035 between Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, and Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire, the court heard.
Another showed him bragging about reversing so fast that he was ‘going to crash’.
Mr Maguire told the inquest that similar footage from other drivers existed online, and suggested social media firms may have a ‘duty to take this material down’ as it ‘subconsciously validates and encourages others to copy that driving’.
Ms Lee said motoring death inquests she had dealt with in the past ‘used to involve racing’ – but said it ‘now seems to be silly things (like) taking selfies.’
She added: ‘It is showing off. The videos get likes and comments, which drives the requirement.’
Mr and Mrs Seccombe, from Preston-on-Stour, Warwickshire, alongside Mr Maguire on behalf of the Purcell family, called for the government to introduce a raft of measures on new motorists to ‘mitigate the risk’ they pose to themselves, passengers, and the public.
They said graduated driving licences should be introduced which restricts the carrying of passengers drivers can carry in the months after passing their test, while black boxes would ‘incentivise good driving’.
Spencer and his three victims were all sixth-form students at Chipping Campden School, an Ofsted-rated ‘outstanding’ former grammar which was founded almost 600 years ago.
Speaking after Spencer’s sentencing in April, the driver of the second vehicle, a woman who was travelling with her two stepchildren, told how she urged the youngsters to close their eyes as she realised the out-of-control Ford Fiesta was going to collide with their Fiat.
The woman, who cannot be identified, told the Daily Mail: ‘The only thing I could do – because I knew in that moment that my children were going to die – the only thing I could do to help them was to tell them to close their eyes.’
All three were hospitalised after the collision, which saw four air ambulances attend the scene.
The court heard the young boy in the Fiat dragged his sister from the wreckage, not knowing if he was pulling her out alive or dead.
Prosecutor Timothy Harrington said trainee joiner Spencer had a ‘history of bad driving, of showing off, taking risks, driving too quickly and failing to heed the warnings of those in the car with him.’
The court heard Spencer ‘violently swerved’ across the road after hitting a verge and spinning out of control, with his passengers taking the brunt of the impact.
Mr Harrington said Frank was sitting in the front seat of Spencer’s car, with Harry and Tilly in the rear seats. All three suffered traumatic head injuries.
An expert estimated Spencer was travelling at 64mph at the time on the road, which has a 60mph limit.
But Judge Andrew Lockhart KC told Spencer it was ‘an act of pure folly to drive at a speed even close to 60mph’.
According to statistics from the Department for Transport, in 2023 around a fifth of all killed or seriously injured (KSI) casualties from collisions involving cars were in collisions which involved a young car driver, defined as someone between the ages of 17 to 24.
Young male car drivers aged 17 to 24 are four times as likely to be killed or seriously injured compared with all car drivers aged 25 or over.
