Waltham Abbey: Heroin may have killed man before Parklands crash

Ms Bennett's driving "may have been caused by concern for her passenger", police said

A 53-year-old man may have already died from a heroin overdose when the car he was in crashed into an oncoming BMW, an inquest has heard.

Pamela Bennett, 36, and front-seat passenger Stuart McDonald, were in a Mini Cooper travelling at 70mph in Waltham Abbey, Essex, in January 2022.

A coroner heard there was no evidence either were wearing seatbelts.

The pair, and a large dog sitting "unrestrained" on the rear seats, were pronounced dead at the scene.

Essex assistant coroner Rebecca Mundy said on Monday: "Due to the extremely high levels of drugs in Stuart's system, including one known for handling opiate overdoses, the collision is not likely to have caused his death.

"Based on the expert evidence I have been provided with, the excess drugs in his system were the cause."

'Bounced'

Ms Bennett was driving eastbound on Parklands - a 40mph-limit road - at about 12:50 GMT on 10 January.

Witnesses described the car on the wrong side of the road at a slight bend before spinning anticlockwise into a BMW X3.

The BMW was "bounced" backwards and the driver, who fractured her right foot, said she thought "I was going to die".

The inquest at Essex coroner's court, in Chelmsford, heard the car was moving at nearly double the speed limit

Ms Bennett died from multiple injuries and the cocaine and methadone detected in her body via toxicology tests was recorded as a contributory factor.

Ms Mundy however said Mr McDonald died from "ingesting [a] fatal level of illicit drugs".

PC Catherine Burke, from Essex Police's forensic collision investigation unit, said his toxicology indicated he "may have been dead" already.

She said Ms Bennett's driving "may have been caused by concern for her passenger".

No blame

Mr McDonald's two children questioned why their father was in the car if he was suffering from an overdose and why no drug paraphernalia was found by police.

"We're not here to blame anyone," said his son Robert McDonald.

"We are just trying to come to terms with it.

"We knew what he was like; we know drugs has contributed to it; we are trying to ascertain whether he took drugs before getting in the car, or after."

There were no criminal proceedings.