Inquest Coverage

The inquest into Simon Richardson's death took place 8 March 2022 and the result was a narrative verdict. 

The family heard Forensic Collision Investigator Luke Webb stand by his conclusion that Simon most likely lost control of his bike on a straight, flat, road that he knew well as he was drinking from his water bottle at the exact same moment as David Pratt was overtaking. 

Mr Webb came to this conclusion in spite of Simon having ridden over 43,000 miles* on his road bike without falling off – except when he was hit by a car – and Mr Webb never having come across a case where a cyclist fell off his bike whilst taking a drink.

* not counting the 30 years before Strava

The only person who claimed to have seen Simon drinking (but later changed her story) was David Pratt's partner Katrina Fox, the passenger in the Toyota Yaris. Katrina Fox claimed that in spite of passing Simon widely and never seeing him crash, she was so concerned for his welfare that she told David Pratt to turn around to look for Simon.

However, even though Simon was wearing a bright blue gilet and the bike had flashing front and rear lights, Katrina Fox claimed that they couldn't find Simon, who was lying dying by the road side less than 70m away from where they turned around before driving past him. The reason Katrina Fox gave was that she was "looking for a person" and not a bike.

Mr Webb wrote in his report that there were no marks on Mr Pratt's wing mirror, but when shown his own photographs from the scene at the inquest, Mr Webb conceded that indeed there were marks.

The post mortem had already established that there were no medical reason for Simon to come off his bike.

The family expressed their gratitude to Ms Craciun and her partner for trying to save Simon's life.