Retired doctor drove with body under car

Stephen Cowley, 58, had been enjoying a night out with friends before he died on Friday 13 November last year.

Driver Andrew Buck, a retired doctor, and his wife Lesley returned to their car which was parked on double yellow lines, with two wheels on the kerb on a narrow road near the Railway pub in Halifax after watching a concert.

The couple got in and Mr Buck turned on the demister and the engine for five minutes before setting off to visit friends at about 10pm, unaware Mr Cowley was trapped under the Citroen C5.

Mr Cowley, who had been drinking bitter all evening in the Railway pub, had been spotted 15 minutes earlier slumped in front of the red Citroen and was helped to his feet by two men passing by. They left him leaning against the bonnet of the car.

The inquest heard it is likely that in his drunken state, Mr Cowley, who was three times over the legal driving limit, slipped back down in front of the vehicle and was not spotted by Mr Buck and his wife as they had approached the car from the rear.

Mr Buck described the half-a-mile drive, in which he never travelled over 20mph, as bumpy and bouncy but thought this was because of the cobbled road he was on.

In a statement read to the inquest, he said: "I was driving slowly because it was a cobbled road but the car was bouncing more than usual and I was wondering why.

"I said to my wife I must have a flat tyre."

The pensioner decided to keep going as he was nearly home, but when the road surface changed and the bumps became worse he finally pulled over- and alarmingly discovered a leg poking out from under his car.

The distraught pensioner flagged down cars to phone the emergency services, but when an ambulance arrived, Mr Cowley – who had grazes and bloodstains on his body – was already dead.

A post mortem revealed Mr Cowley is most likely to have died when Mr Buck's car left the kerb and the vehicle crushed his chest, breaking the right side of his rib cage and causing skin abrasions.

Mr Cowley, who had suffered from pnemonia and swine flu, did not recover from the compressive chest injury and his body remained trapped between the sub-frame and the nearside front tyre of the saloon car.

In a statement read to the court, Mr Cowley's daughter Cheryl Blackburn said her father, who worked for Journey's Friend newsagents on Leeds railway station, had been happily married for 39 years and was very sociable.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, assistant deputy coroner Dominic Bell, said the cause of death was multiple injuries, a road traffic collision, with alcohol intoxication being a contributory cause.

He said the powerful diesel engine and rear suspension of Mr Buck's car meant the vehicle had easily dragged Mr Cowley along.