Girl, 3, killed after driver's 'deliberate' decision on motorway led to fireball

05 November 2023 , 18:29

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Faye Dawson had been to se the Blackpool illuminations when her car hit the Porsche (Image: Lancashire Police)

A young girl travelling home from the Blackpool illuminations was killed when the car she was in collided with a Porsche which had performed an “unfathomable and deliberate” U-turn on the M6, an inquest heard.

Driver Terence Unsworth, 79, stopped on the busy motorway near Leyland, turned around and started moving in the wrong direction. His car collided with Beth Dawson’s car, killing her three-year-old daughter Faye, and turning the Porsche into a “fireball”. Preston Coroner’s Court heard how the mother suddenly found herself facing the pensioner’s car. An inquest into Mr Unsworth’s death was told the 79-year-old indicated right, after joining the M6 near Leyland, and then performed a U-turn and proceeded to drive the wrong way down the southbound carriageway.

Mum Beth Dawson's car hit the car facing the wrong way on the motorway (Beth Dawson)

LancsLive reported how, having watched CCTV of him joining the motorway, which was not played in court, Assistant Coroner Richard Taylor said: "He doesn't meander. He stops and simply turns. It seems to be a deliberate action." The inquest heard from collision investigator PC Rachel Carberry who said the footage showed two cars in front of Beth's Vauxhall prior to the crash. Referring to the driver's actions she said: "He has entered the sliproad correctly then when he got to the give way lines he has stopped, indicated and done a U-turn. It was a clear and obvious turn in the wrong direction.

"There were two vehicles in front of Miss Dawson, around 500 metres prior to the collision, they moved out of the lane but I don't have any evidence to say when that occurred [as they were obscured by a HGV]. It was completely impossible for Miss Dawson to avoid the collision."

A post mortem, carried out by Home Office pathologist Dr Alison Armour, found Mr Unsworth - who had been fitted with a pacemaker around 10 years earlier - had suffered an acute myocardial thrombus and his coronary arteries were "severely narrowed". The court was told the potential side-effects of confusion and disorientation could not explain his seemingly intentional actions.

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Dr Armour said: "The histology identified severe narrowing and it also identified severe calcification. Calcification is a degenerative age-related change." Other than the post mortem findings, and reference to Terence's pacemaker, no other medical history was heard during the inquest.

Returning a conclusion of road traffic accident, the assistant coroner said: "I think the difficulty with instances such as these is that we would all like to understand Mr Unsworth's decision-making but it seems that we will never be able to do that. I have seen the CCTV and there doesn't seem to be anything unusual about his driving except for the decision, not only to indicate to turn right, but to perform a U-turn and proceed down the motorway the wrong way."

Antony Thrower