Age: 18
Sex: male
Date: 15 Feb 1961
Place: Gravel Hill, Addington, Croydon, London
Derek Winston Curzon Dean died after his motorcycle crashed into a telegraph pole at Gravel Hill in Addington on the night of Wednesday 15 February 1961.
He received multiple injuries and was taken to Croydon General Hospital but was found to be dead on arrival.
However, an open verdict was returned after it was heard that a van could have been involved in the collision and that neither it nor the driver could be traced.
Derek Dean had lived in Crossways in Addington.
His father, an engineer, said that Derek Dean had been riding motorcycles nearly all his life. He said, 'When my son first bought a bike it was on the condition that he joined a trials club. By joining this club, I knew that any adventure he wanted on the machine, he could have on the trials circuit. I made a point of checking the machine thoroughly nearly every weekend and when he first decided to ride I taught him myself. He was a very careful driver and I think he was killed trying to avoid a vehicle which cut across in front of him'.
