Douglas Chapman

Douglas Chapman was knocked down by a car whilst out walking his dog along Burcott Lane, Bierton on 19 January 1984.

His inquest found that he had been killed unlawfully.

Douglas Chapman had lived in Ingram Avenue, Aylesbury.

He was found fatally injured by four schoolboys at 9.45am that had been out on a cross-country run and taken to Stoke Mandeville Hospital where he later died. His dog, Cindy, was also found injured in a nearby ditch, but recovered afterwards with treatment.

It was noted that the car that hit him failed to stop.

A 15-year-old girl that had lived in Burcott Lane, Bierton, said that she had had the day off from Aylesbury High School and had been walking home from Aylesbury when she saw Douglas Chapman walking along the road. She said that he had been walking:

She said that he disappeared round a sharp bend behind her when she saw a car approaching. She said:

She added that it made a crunching sound as it slowed down to turn the corner, and said:

However, she said that she frequently heard a bird-scarer on the way home that thought that that had caused the bang, and so she didn't investigate.

One of the group of four schoolboys from Vale that found Douglas Chapman in the road said that they had been running on the right hand side of the road when they came across a man lying in the road on the left.

When Douglas Chapman arrived at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, he was found to have severe head and leg injuries and attempts to resuscitate him failed.

A pathologist gave his major cause of death as being bruising and disruption of the brain tissue caused by head injuries.

A police constable that went out to the scene of the incident shortly after said that he found icy patches along the road edges and that the sun was very low, noting that that could have made it very difficult to see for the driver.

After appeals for witnesses, the police were contacted by a man that had lived in Great Lane, Bierton, who owned a brown Triumph car.

Forensic experts at Aldermaston examined the car, and matched the paint with a small flake found in Douglas Chapman's trouser pocket. they also found that the car had dents.

Scientists also found traces of a substance that gave a positive reaction to a test used to detect blood. however, they were unable to carry out further tests because the substance had been covered with a fresh layer of polish.

In an interview with the police, and car owner said that he recalled feeling a bump on the road, but thought that it had been a piece of hard mud left there.

Two friends of the man said that they had driven with him to Northampton car auctions on the day of the accident. However, one of them stated that the man had seemed his usual self when he had driven round to his house at 10am that Thursday morning.

however, the Coroner then asked the man to read out his original statement to the police in which he described the man as:

The man then went on to state that when the third man arrived that the y then all went off to the car auction and then in the evening had a few drinks and that the car owner left his Triumph are at his place in Dover Hedge and took a taxi home.

He said that the following day he drove the Triumph round to the third man's house where the third man was washing a car that he had bought at the car action the day before, and that the car owner arrived a little later.

He said that then, to the best of his knowledge, that the car owner said:

He said that they then polished the ar.

He said that after reports of the accident appeared in the local paper that he saw the third man at a pub and that although he couldn't remember the exact words used, he said something like:

However, he said that he was later assured by the car owner that all he could remember was hitting some mud.

When the Coroner summed up, he said that the sun might have dazzled the driver, saying:

As such, the Coroner said that he was satisfied that the death was likely to have been caused through reckless driving and adjourned the inquest to give the DPP time to study the report.

However, when the inquest later resumed, it was heard that the DPP had decided not to take any action.

An open verdict was then returned, after which the Coroner said: