Mother claims boy's death due to crash

Kristian Holgate, a muscular dystrophy sufferer, was travelling in a taxi to Huddersfield New College on the morning of February 9 last year when he was thrown violently from his specially designed chair.

His mother, Ann Holgate, told an inquest at Halifax town hall that she received a phone call from driver Rahim Dad complaining "that I had not put his lapbelt on. I told him to ring for an ambulance''.

She said she had trusted Mr Dad to fasten him properly into the taxi. When she arrived at the scene "he was lying in a pool of blood. He had not slipped out of his chair but had been thrown forward with some force.''

He was taken to hospital but since the incident Mrs Holgate, of Highfield Road, Rastrick, said "he suffered severe panic attacks and was convinced he was going to die''.

A further hospital check-up gave the all-clear, but on March 1 she said "he became breathless and got himself in a very agitated state'' so she dialled 999 for an ambulance. In spite of attempts to resuscitate him he never recovered. "I know the accident was directly responsible for his death.''

But expert witness Dr Richard Knights blamed natural causes. He said Kristian was severely obese and suffered chronic respiratory failure.

Coroner Roger Whittaker adjourned the inquest for Kristian's family to obtain independent medical advice. He said: "The cause of death was not related to the incident with the taxi and in the absence of any alternative I have to accept that."