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Inquest finds Viola Beach manager had no drugs or alcohol in his system during fatal crash

The manager of English band Viola Beach drove their car through barriers into a bridge resulting ...
Newstalk
Newstalk

14.39 7 Dec 2016


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Inquest finds Viola Beach mana...

Inquest finds Viola Beach manager had no drugs or alcohol in his system during fatal crash

Newstalk
Newstalk

14.39 7 Dec 2016


Share this article


The manager of English band Viola Beach drove their car through barriers into a bridge resulting in their deaths, an inquest heard today.

All four members - Kris Leonard, 19, River Reeves, 19, Tomas Lowe, 27, and Jack Dakin, 19 - were killed in the crash near Stockholm, Sweden in February.

Craig Tarry, 32, was behind the wheel of the hired Nissan Qashqai taking the band back to their hotel after playing at a festival for upcoming bands. The four-piece Warrington-based band had flown out from Manchester the night before and were "very much in the ascendancy" with foreign tours planned.

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Post-mortem reports by medics in Sweden revealed all died from head injuries apart from Mr Lowe whose cause of death was given as drowning.

The bridge over the Södertälje canal, 18 miles west of Stockholm, was raised while a tanker passed underneath when the band’s rented Nissan Qashqai overtook queueing traffic. Witnesses said the car clipped the wing mirror of a taxi, hit two barriers, and crashed into the bridge at 50mph, despite signs warning that the bridge was up.

There were no drugs or alcohol found in Mr Tarry, and no drugs and only small amounts of alcohol found in the band members.

Their debut album, Swings And Waterslides, topped the iTunes album chart post-posthumously.

After the crash, a statement from the families of the band said: "We are tremendously proud of everything the boys achieved in such a short space of time.

"Craig, Jack, Kris, River and Tom shared a huge passion, talent and dedication to music."


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