A drink driver was begged to stop the car as it raced at over 90mph before crashing and killing a woman, an inquest has heard. Kitchen designer Lillie Clack, 21, from Morden, was fatally injured and died days after the crash in the early hours of December 25 2021.
On Thursday, the inquest into the death heard that drink driver Charlie Hilton, 25, was chased by police before his Mercedes hit a tree, flipped over and burst into flames. Residents in Beeches Avenue, Carshalton, south London, grabbed fire extinguishers and rushed to help.
The car was overcrowded with six people squeezed inside, South London Coroner’s Court sitting at Croydon Town Hall heard. Ms Clack died and her boyfriend Jack Watson and best friend Delia Casey were badly hurt.
The friends had been enjoying a Winter Wonderland attraction in the West End and visited a pub in Morden before accepting a lift home from Hilton.
In a statement Mr Watson, who was wearing a seatbelt, said he was “shocked and I remember thinking why is he going so fast” when the car sped away so quickly. Mr Watson, who was in the back seat, later recalled: “I think I might have said ‘Charlie what are you doing, why are you going so fast’. I think the girls were in shock.”
He remembered seeing police blue lights and sirens and described Hilton’s driving as “dangerous and quick”. During the journey, he said: “I thought Charlie could easily lose control. I did not want to be in the car. I felt scared because I had been in a crash before on my bike.”
Mr Watson said “it felt too fast” and he wanted to get out saying “it just felt unsafe”. He remembered saying “Charlie, slow down. What are you doing? Let me and Lillie out.” He recalled Hilton telling him to shut up.
Mr Watson cannot recall all the details of the chase, the inquest heard, but he remembered Hilton running a red light at some point before the crash. Hilton did an illegal U-turn and was undertaking and overtaking vehicles.
Mr Watson added: “I do not remember hitting a tree. The only memory I have is being pulled out on a stretcher and bleeding from my lip.”
He added: “I remember asking ‘where’s Lillie?’. I remember being in an ambulance and blood on my jacket but I do not know where the blood came from. My clothing was cut off from me – and I knew then that it was bad.”
The passengers have gaps in their recall of the crash but remember feeling “shocked” as the car raced away, continuing to build speed, it was said.
Hilton was told by his passengers a police vehicle had turned its blue lights on behind them and was indicating for him to stop. Instead, he sped and was driving so fast that the passengers bumped their head on the roof of the car as they were chased by police, the inquest heard.
In a statement, Ms Casey who was sitting on the front seat said: “Everyone was shouting inside the car. There was a lot going on and I was just feeling very fearful for everyone in the car. The speed we were going at made me feel terrified. It feels like I was only in there for a few seconds. It feels like a blur. Even after I visited Lillie’s tree I still have no memory of the accident.”
Ms Casey said she “was not my usual self” but was not drunk when she got into the car and was not wearing a seatbelt. She added that “at no point did Charlie appear drunk to me. He did not seem to be drunk as he was not talking loud and he was not stumbling.”
Ms Casey was among a group of friends who had been to the pub and had accepted a lift from Hilton to drop them off at her home a few minutes away.
Her boyfriend had won a 6ft inflatable banana at Winter Wonderland earlier that day which blocked the view of the friends of who got in to the back seat.
Nadia Avent, who was in an taxi when she saw the car explode in the early hours, said: “The car overtook a taxi at great speed. It looked like a video game because of the speed he went past us.”
She added that she saw “the car exploding in front of us” and then dialled 999.
In February 2023, Hilton was jailed at the Old Bailey for 10 years and six months after pleading guilty to causing Ms Clack’s death by dangerous driving, three counts of causing serious injury, failing to stop when directed and driving above the alcohol limit.
He was also disqualified from driving for five years after his release from prison.
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