Teenagers died after car collided with tree in Staffordshire crash

5 February 2025, 12:46 | Updated: 5 February 2025, 13:28

Three teenagers died after the car they were travelling in collided with a tree, an inquest has heard.

Dafydd Huw Craven-Jones, 18, and Morgan Jones, 17, from Wrexham, North Wales, and 17-year-old Sophie Bates from Stafford died after the crash on 25 May last year.

Staffordshire Coroner's Court heard Mr Craven-Jones was the driver of the black Ford KA when it collided "head-on with an established tree" off the B5012 Cannock Road, in Pilkington.

He and the front seat passenger Mr Jones were both declared dead at the scene and Sophie Bates, one of the rear seat passengers, died at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital on 28 May.

Assistant coroner Kelly Dixon recorded a short form cause of death as road traffic collision.

"As the vehicle travelled over a humped back bridge towards Penkridge, at speed, it suffered a loss of control," she said.

A tracking app on passenger Brooke Varley's phone "indicated a maximum speed of 85mph had been reached at some point during the 15-minute journey".

The inquest heard evidence that, while the driver was wearing his seat belt, the front side passenger was not wearing his correctly and neither rear seat passengers were wearing seat belts.

Ms Dixon said she was satisfied on the balance of probability that "inappropriate speed over the humped back bridge" caused a loss of control.

The assistant coroner said she would issue a prevention of future deaths report to Staffordshire highways authority after a previous fatal collision on the same stretch of road.

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In a statement released after the collision, Ms Varley, the sole survivor of the crash, said she was "so upset to have lost such amazing people from [her] life".

Both Mr Craven-Jones and Mr Jones were keen rugby players and played for Wrexham RFC's youth team, who described them as "good friends on and off the field of play".

In a tribute to Mr Craven-Jones issued after his death, his family described him as "a beautiful soul" and "loving person".

Meanwhile, Mr Jones's family said he was a "very popular young man" who was "loved by everybody".

Ms Bates's family said their "Princess Sophie" would be "sorely missed and loved eternally".

(c) Sky News 2025: Teenagers died after car collided with tree in Staffordshire crash