A TEENAGER died instantly after the quad bike he was riding without a helmet while on holiday with friends in Malia lost control and flipped over.
Kieran Roche, 19, from Swindon suffered numerous head, chest and abdominal injuries in the crash around 4pm on July 23 last year that caused his main blood vessel to rupture, the county's senior coroner David Ridley ruled during an emotionally-charged inquest.
Mr Roche's friend Charlie Bridger left the room in tears after reliving the traumatic details of the road traffic collision on the Greek road Zoodochos Pigi. It happened after the bike Mr Bridger drove with Kieran on the back while returning from the beach hit something on the road and swerved towards two pedestrians.
Charlie said: "We were just taking turns on the bike and cruising around together, not going fast, then I felt the right front wheel shift. I don't know what it hit but I started shouting and tried to brake but it didn't seem to be working and we were heading straight for two people so I swerved and it flipped."
Charlie sobbed with his head in his hands when the street view of the road where Kieran died appeared on screen at the coroner's court in Salisbury before taking a few deep breaths and carrying on with the questioning.
Kieran's mother cried during the testimony and again when Mr Ridley tried to reassure her by stating that Kieran's instant death meant that he did not suffer.
She told him: "His friends are broken, we are all broken."
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Charlie's parents tried to comfort their son and keep him in the room after his testimony ended but he was inconsolable so they left with him. Kieran's stepfather attended the coroner's court but could not face hearing the details of the inquest so he stayed in another room while it was carried out.
One of the pedestrians was hit by the quad bike while the other was clipped. Charlie flew over the handlebars and Kieran had not been wearing a helmet. The pair had been told only the driver of each bike needed to wear one, according to written statements from two friends who were on the quad bike behind Mr Bridger and Mr Roche.
The coroner said it was "odd" that the bike had lost control so easily and been so difficult to get back onto four wheels and that it was "surprising" that Mr Roche's blood vessel had ruptured and that sort of injury is more commonly found in high-speed crashes, which this was not. The bike was not going more than 30mph and Mr Bridger escaped with just a few cuts to his back and neck that needed stitches.
He added: "I consulted a forensic pathologist who determined that this rupture could occur because of sudden deceleration or compression of the aorta against the vertebral column. It seems more likely that it was compression caused by being thrown off the quad bike and hitting the ground in the way Kieran did which ruptured the vessel, not the sudden deceleration.
"Not wearing a helmet was more likely than not a contributing factor to his head injuries.
"There is a possibility that there was an issue with the bike, which lost control for reasons that are not clear. I'm sorry we can't give a reason as to why this happened but we have no ability to dictate how other countries investigate deaths."
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