Published: Friday, 5th September, 2008 08:00
My son Daniel was a gentleman
By Lucy Crossley
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A GRIEVING mum has paid tribute to her ‘gentleman’ son who died driving home from his girlfriend’s house.
Daniel Turpin, 26, was killed in January when the car he was driving hit the bridge in Broomhall Lane, Sunningdale.
He was within the 30mph speed limit but was three times over the drink driving limit and had not been wearing a seatbelt, something his mother Elaine said was out of character for her son.
Mrs Turpin said: “He was what I’d call a beautiful young man and his girlfriend Zayna described him as a gentleman, and he was.
“He was loved by everyone and he always had a smile.”
An inquest at Windsor Guildhall on Thursday heard that Daniel was driving home from Zayna Ayoub’s house in the early hours of Monday, January 28, when his car hit the kerb and a fence before it struck the bridge.
He had spent the day with Zayna’s family and, because he had been drinking, they expected him to stay over and sleep on the sofa.
But unbeknown to Zayna, Daniel took the keys to her Silver Toyota RAV 4 and set off for his home in Parkside Road, Sunningdale.
She did not know that Daniel had left until police arrived at 5am to explain that her car had been involved in an accident. Daniel was killed when one of his major internal arteries was severed and it is unlikely that wearing a seatbelt could have saved his life.
PC Andy Bryant, a police forensic collision examiner, said: “Even if he had been wearing a seatbelt the deceleration would still be severe, it would – just in these circumstances – increase the time you would come to a halt.
“I personally do not think the crash would have been survivable even with a seatbelt because the vehicle was forced to stop in such a short period of time. It still would have caused a fatality.”
A toxicology report revealed Daniel had a blood alcohol level of 285mg/100ml of blood – more than three times the legal drink driving limit.
Berkshire Coroner Peter Bedford said: “We can never explain clearly why David made the decision to leave.
“Choosing to drive when he had been drinking was the cause of the accident.”
Mr Bedford recorded a verdict of misadventure.
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