Yahoo News Retired Royal Navy captain dies in Devon car crash
A retired Royal Navy Captain who had been driving back home with his wife after going out of lunch tragically died after he pulled out of a junction into the path of an oncoming car. An inquest into the death of 84-year-old Richard Stenlake heard he passed away at the scene of the crash on Post Hill between Tiverton and Halberton, on May 26, 2023.
The inquest at Exeter Coroners Court heard that although faded and 'poor' give-way road markings at the junction by Tiverton Golf Club were said to have not contributed to Mr Stenlake's death, police raised concerns to Devon County Council (DCC) about potential future incidents. However, it appears the markings have yet to be improved.
In a statement, Mr Stenlake's wife Aileen told how they married in 1970 and in 1991 he retired after a long career in the Royal Navy. She described him as having been 'fit and well' and was a regular keen swimmer.
Read next:
She added he had no medical conditions after being in remission from prostate cancer. In terms of his driving, she said his last collision had been more than 20 years ago.
On the day of crash, she recalled they had visited Redwoods Inn in Lowman Cross for their usual weekly lunch outing and on the way back home to Tiverton, Mr Stenlake came to the junction leading onto Post Hill Road at around 2.15pm.
She recalled him stopping and moving away and then 'almost instantly' hearing a loud bang and 'deafening thump' behind her.
Mrs Stenlake said of her recollection at the junction: "He accelerated quickly and I remember him saying 'oh' in the moment immediately before the bang."
The impact caused their vehicle to rotate almost 360 degrees and travel downhill before crashing into a verge on the offside carriageway. The other vehicle came to a stop after hitting a lamppost.
The driver of the black Audi A3 car which collided with Mr Stenlake's blue VW Polo told in a statement how she had been driving from Tiverton to Willand and described it as having been a bright sunny day with little traffic on the roads. She recalled driving along Post Hill Road, which has a speed limit of 40mph, when she saw a car pull out of a junction and accelerate across her path.
She said: "The blue car should have stopped at the junction. I genuinely could not have done anything to avoid the crash."
A number of witness statements were provided to police, along with dashcam footage from a vehicle travelling behind Mr Stenlake. Evidence was also heard in a statement from a man who had left London Fire Brigade two weeks prior and stopped at the scene to offer his help.
He recalled how Mr Stenlake had initially been conscious after the crash and the assistance he gave him while he waited for paramedics to arrive. He told how he and some other bystanders had helped get Mr Stenlake out of the car when he stopped breathing and carried out CPR. Despite their best efforts, and that of the emergency services, his death was confirmed at 3.23pm.
The cause of his death was multiple injuries. Motor control constable William Welch, the investigating officer in the case, told the inquest hearing yesterday, April 18, that dashcam footage had not shown any prior signs of Mr Stenlake being anything other than a 'careful and competent driver' before the crash.
Describing the seconds before the collision, he said: "The Polo has arrived and paused momentarily and then accelerated out of the junction directly into the path of the Audi."
He estimated that the length of the pause at the junction was two seconds and said he did not believe the Audi driver would have had time to react and confirmed they had not been speeding.
MPC Welch said: "My sincere belief is the driver of the Audi has done nothing wrong and could have done nothing to avoid the collision."
He concluded: "For reasons unknown, he failed to see the Audi approaching from the right-hand side."
⚠️ Want the latest Devon breaking news and top stories first? Click here to join our WhatsApp group. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice ⚠️
The position of the sun was said to have not had an impact on his view. It was noted that Mr Stenlake had recently had an eyesight test and although his prescription had not changed, he had been referred to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital after peripheral lesions were detected in one of his eyes.
However, the inquest heard he had not been advised to stop driving and would not have driven if his vision had been affected. MPC Welch said: "We don't believe there was any vision impairment that would have prevented him from seeing the car."
Both vehicles were found to have had no defects that could have caused or contributed to the crash.
Shortly before the conclusion of the inquest, Mr Stenlake's daughter Alison thanked all those who had come to the aid of her parents following the crash.
She said: "We are just very grateful to those people for what they did, the paramedics and members public who did so much to help. It meant a great deal to us."
Recording a conclusion of road traffic collision, senior coroner Mr Spinney said: "The collision was unintentional in what appears to have been a momentary lapse of concentration leaving her [the Audi] driver no time to react."
Mr Spinney added he would be writing to DCC's highways team after the matter of inadequate road markings at the junction of the collision was raised. MPC Welch confirmed that on the day of the crash, highways agreed the markings needed repainting but that when he visited the site a month ago it had still not been done.
Mr Spinney said: "Although it was not incidental to Mr Stenlake's cause of death, I will write to the highways authority saying the matter arose during the course of an inquest, asking them to give consideration to repainting the road markings at the junction."
