Denver Barfield inquest: Reasons behind fatal Vietnam crash still unknown

Denver Barfield loved travelling and "followed his dreams", his mother said

The reasons why a motorcycle crashed in Vietnam, killing the two tourists riding it, remain unknown following an investigation and inquest.

Denver Barfield, from Leicester, was on holiday when he and University of Leicester student Beth Thompson died in the crash.

An inquest into Mr Barfield's death has heard he was a "passionate, bright young man who loved to travel".

The coroner concluded his cause of death was pelvic injuries.

Ivan Cartwright told Leicester Coroner's Court: "On the balance of probabilities, I am able to find that for reasons that will never be precise, the motorcycle left the road so that the rider and pillion passenger were thrown off it, and each sustained injuries that were serious, and sadly fatal."

Mr Barfield finished his degree at Aston University in 2020 but graduated earlier this year - the day before he left to go travelling

The inquest in Leicester heard that Mr Barfield, who was 24, had left the UK to go travelling on 8 April.

He and a male friend first went to Thailand before going to Vietnam.

"I understand from what I have heard and read that Denver was a passionate, bright young man who loved to travel, that his family were very proud of him, and he is clearly greatly missed by all those who knew and loved him," said Mr Cartwright.

Mr Barfield and some other friends had been staying at a backpacker hostel in Hoi An, and some of them went out to bars and clubs on the evening of 15 May.

CCTV footage played at the inquest showed Mr Barfield and Miss Thompson obtaining a motorbike, which was likely for hire, from outside the hostel between 03:19 and 03:24 on the morning of 16 May.

Having viewed this footage, the coroner said there was "nothing to suggest that Denver was excessively intoxicated through alcohol or any other substance".

Mr Barfield was then seen riding away with Miss Thompson, and they crashed shortly after in a road known as Hung Vuong Street.

A translated police report from Vietnam indicated that the motorbike hit a kerb, and then collided with a metal lamp post or pole.

The coroner said: "I have not heard or read anything that would lead me to find that the collision was as a result of foul play, third-party activity or in suspicious circumstances."

A post-mortem examination in Vietnam suggested that Mr Barfield died of multiple injuries.

However, a second post-mortem examination was carried out in Leicester, and this concluded that his cause of death was pelvic injuries.

Denver Barfield was travelling in different countries before starting a job in London

Mr Barfield's mother, Debbie Clayton, has previously told the BBC about how she was the subject of a scam from someone who claimed to be the coroner in Vietnam.

She said she received multiple WhatsApp messages demanding $12,500 to send her son's body home.

She said: "They were asking me what I wanted to do with my dead son's body and they started sending graphic images."

The coroner referred to this as "despicable".

He asked Miss Clayton if she would like to say anything about her son.

She said: "Just that Denver was a very passionate individual, and obviously we are very proud of him.

"He followed his dreams. He had been at university and one of his passions was travelling, and he had been more places than most people have at 60."