Robert Edward Carey

Robert Edward Carey was found injured on a road on 23 July 1942 and was taken to Paignton Hospital where he later died on 31 July 1942.

He was a retired master mariner and had lived at 3a Morin Road in Paignton.

An open verdict was returned at his inquest after it was heard that he had collapsed in the road but that no one saw whether he had been hit by a car or not.

A car was seen to drive past him quickly and to sound its horn, but the driver and a passenger in the car said that they did not hit him.

A woman that had lived at 348 Torquay Road in Paignton said that at about 10am on 23 July 1942, she had seen a car pass her house going towards Torquay. She said that she then noticed Robert Carey crossing the road and then heard people shouting to the car to stop and then saw Robert Carey lying in the road.

She said that she didn't see anything strike him and added that the car had been going very fast.

Another man that lived in Winner Street in Paignton, said that he heard the driver of the car sound his horn and then saw Robert Carey spin around in the road and fall about five feet from the pavement. He said that it seemed as if the car had been just leaving him.

After Robert Carey was taken to the hospital, he said, 'I had not gone far across the road when I saw the car coming straight towards me. I don't remember anything more until I was in the hospital'.

The passenger in the car said when she first saw Robert Carey, he was four feet from the kerb and about 20 feet from the car. She said that the driver blew his horn, but that Robert Carey took no notice. She said that the driver swerved but that Robert Carey continued, and that the driver swerved again in the same direction but said that they did not hit Robert Carey.

At the inquest, when the woman was questioned by the coroner, he asked whether the car had passed Robert Carey without touching Robert Carey and the woman said that that was the case, saying that he fell to the ground as they passed him without hitting him.

The driver gave no evidence at the inquest, but in the statement that he made to the police he said that he had passed Robert Carey and that when he heard people shouting for him to stop he stopped and when he went to look he saw Robert Carey lying in the road. In his statement he said, 'I know I did not touch him'.

When the inquest was adjourned, it was heard that white marks on Robert Carey's trousers were to be analysed in case they had any bearing on the case, although nothing more is known about the analysis.