Ellie Marsden, 20, and her boyfriend Ryan Duffy, 24, were found dead inside a Citroen Berlingo in the middle of the night – after the van collided with a tree in a village in Cumbria, Wales
A heartbrokem mum whose daughter was found dead in a van alongside her boyfriend after a “spontaneous” police chase said “we will ache for her for the rest of our lives”.
Ellie Marsden, 20, and her partner Ryan Duffy, 24, were discovered inside a Citroen Berlingo at around 7.30am on September 5, 2021. The pair had been out in the van during the early hours when they collided with a tree near Appleby-in-Westmorland in Cumbria, Wales. An inquest into their deaths on Tuesday, March 18, found that a “spontaneous pursuit” by a police officer had contributed to the crash which claimed the couple’s lives.
Ellie’s mum, Kelly Kennedy, said in a statement following the verdict: “We would like to thank the coroner and the jury for their thorough and detailed approach. The conclusions they have reached have vindicated all that I have been fighting for over the last three and a half years.
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“The officer’s pursuit of Ryan out of Appleby was a significant contributory factor in my daughter’s death. The daily pain we have had to endure ever since losing our beautiful daughter Ellie is crippling. No parent should have to go through losing a child and especially in such horrific circumstances.
“Ellie is and was the most loving, kind and caring daughter, who had her whole life ahead of her. She was more than just a daughter, she was my best friend and the best friend of her heartbroken sister Chloe. Our lives are completely shattered without her here in our arms and we will ache for her for the rest of our lives. Ellie, I love and miss you more than life, and me, your dad, your family and friends will ache for you for all eternity.”
The inquest, held in Carlisle, heard the couple had travelled to spend a night at the Appleby Castle Hotel in Appleby-in-Westmorland, where they were checked in at around 10pm on September 4, 2021, by duty manager James Usher. Ryan told the manager: “I just want to make her happy with a night away.”
The pair then spent the evening at the Hare & Hounds pub for two hours, and at around 12.30am, CCTV footage captured them leaving the premises and returning to a parked Citroen Berlingo van. PC Craig Stevenson, a standard response officer on patrol, noted their presence and decided to follow and monitor the van’s movements. He watched as the driver went the wrong way along a one-way street.
PC Stevenson continued to follow the van in an attempt to stop it and speak with the driver. His own Ford Transit vehicle data showed he repeatedly travelled above the speed limit both in Appleby and then out on to rural country roads. Both vehicles turned on to a country lane known as Long Rigg. At that stage, PC Stevenson lost sight of the van. He stopped and sent a radio message to his control room. He was 170 metres from where the crashed Berlingo was later found.
“Just had a vehicle make off from me on the back roads from Appleby,” the officer reported, before turning around. He had never managed to log the registration number of the Berlingo nor the vehicle’s make during a four-minute journey. He told jurors the opportunity to activate blue lights to attempt a safe stoppage did not arise.
PC Stevenson confirmed he was trained to follow and stop vehicles but not to engage in any pursuit which, he explained, was a “high risk activity” for any officer or people in a subject vehicle. At no stage, he told jurors, did he believe he was involved in a “spontaneous pursuit”, as defined by College of Policing policy. This dictates that if a subject driver is aware of police presence, fails to stop and a pursuit begins, a non-trained pursuit officer must immediate inform a control room and disengage.
PC Stevenson told assistant coroner Joseph Hart during the inquest: “I didn’t believe it was a pursuit.” After listening to evidence over the course of a week, a jury concluded, on the balance of probabilities, that Ryan had become aware of the officer’s presence while driving out of Appleby. Ryan took evasive action, the jury found, unanimously, resulting in a spontaneous pursuit. The 11-strong jury concluded on Tuesday, March 19, that there were a number of factors which contributed to the deaths of Ryan and Ellie in the collision.
One was excess alcohol, with a post-mortem reading from Ryan’s bloodstream showing he was between two and three times the legal drink-drive limit; along with other intoxicants, cocaine and ketamine also being found in his system. Another factor, jurors found, was driver error, with Ryan, of Ashton-in-Makerfield, failing to negotiate a bend on which he crashed. A third factor was the fact that neither he nor Ellie, of Golborne, had been wearing seat belts.
And a fourth was PC Stevenson following the van. Jurors concluded: “On the balance of probabilities the police officer was engaged in a spontaneous pursuit of Ryan, and this contributed to causing the crash.”
Ellie’s heartbroken relatives were left in tears as the conclusions were delivered. Coroner Mr Hart offered his sympathies to the loved ones of care assistant Ellie and Ryan, a United Utilities leakage engineer. He said: “There is literally nothing I can say to diminish your loss and the tragedy of your loss.”
A Cumbria police spokesman said after the hearing: “The Constabulary has supported the coronial process and respects the findings and conclusions of the inquest today. We will now review these and consider any actions, learning, training or changes in procedures that need to take place.
“This incident was referred to the IOPC (Independent Office for Police Conduct) following the tragic incident in 2021 who returned the investigation back to the Constabulary. We will contact the IOPC regarding today’s conclusions. Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of Ellie Marsden and Ryan Duffy at this very difficult time.”