A student was more than twice the alcohol limit when he smashed into a building killing himself and three university friends, an inquest heard.
Makyle Bayley, 22, was driving a Ford Focus ST at about 94mph in the early hours of Saturday, February 1, when he lost control of his car, a series of inquests was told.
His friends – fellow Essex University students Eva Darold-Tchikaya, 21, Daljang Wol, 22, and TJ Hibbert, 24 – were passengers after being picked up in Colchester, Essex, in the early hours of the morning.
Lincoln Brookes, Essex’s area coroner, said they all had ‘a lot of potential and dreams for the future’ before concluding the four students died as a result of a road traffic collision.
At a series of inquests held simultaneously today (June 18) for each student, Essex Coroner’s Court heard Mr Bayley, Mr Wol, and Mr Hibbert had been at Trilogy nightclub in Colchester on Friday, January 31.
Along with Miss Darold-Tchikaya, all four got into Mr Bayley’s car in West Stockwell Street which then travelled up Balkerne Hill and along Southway towards St Botolph’s roundabout.
Essex Police’s forensic collision expert, Sergeant James Lee, said cameras in Magdalen Street showed the car driving at an approximate speed of 88mph along the road – though it could have been going 6.3mph faster or slower.
Reading from a report prepared in the weeks after the crash, Mr Lee said the car hit a traffic island opposite which caused severe damage to the driver’s side tyre.
Makyle Bayley, 22, was driving a Ford Focus ST at about 94mph in the early hours of Saturday, February 1, when he lost control of his car, a series of inquests was told
Fellow Essex University students Eva Darold-Tchikaya, 21, was also killed in the car crash
Anthony Junior ‘AJ’ Hibbert (left) and Daljan ‘DJ’ Wol (right) both died in the crash
As the car spun out of control, it then then swerved onto the other side of the road, clipped another kerb and then struck a staircase to a house.
He said the momentum caused the car to turn onto its side before it collided roof first into Dusty’s a second-hand shop.
Following the crash members of Miss Darold-Tchikaya, My Bayley, Mr Wol, and Hibbert all paid tributes to their loved ones.
Miss Darold-Tchikaya’s family said she was a ‘dearly loved daughter, sister, grand-daughter, and niece’.
Mr Wol’s family said: ‘His smile was contagious and it touched everyone who knew him’.
Mr Bayley’s family said he was ‘an extraordinary young man, full of life and promise’.
Mr Hibbert’s family said he left a ‘lasting warmth in the hearts of everyone he met’.
During the proceedings, the coroner read a report from Home Office pathologist Dr Ben Swift, who examined the bodies of the students after the crash.
It was revealed a high level of alcohol was found in Makyle Bayley’s system when he was driving the car.
Footage supplied to MailOnline by Colchester businessman Mdhafar Abed shows a black car speeding along Magdalen Street seconds before a fatal collision
Police are asking for information and dashcam, doorbell and CCTV footage pertaining to the crash
Witnesses said police struggled to identify the make and model of the car, such was its state after the crash (pictured: rubble gathered at the side of the crash site)
He said: ‘Toxicology analysis has identified a blood alcohol concentration two-and-a-half times over the drink drive limit.
‘Such a concentration in a social drinker might be expected to result in signs of significant or even extreme drunkenness, though individual tolerance to the effects of alcohol would make this difficult to predict.’
The alcohol reading was given as 211 milligrams of alcohol in 100ml of blood.
The legal drink drive limit is 80 milligrams.
Talking on the students’ deaths, Coroner Brooks said: ‘Death was almost instantaneous and in any event all of them would have been unconscious if there was any brief interval before death.
‘There was no possibility of them being saved, as it were.
‘This was an irreversible situation.’
He added the level of alcohol in Mr Bayley’s system ‘may have played a role’ in him driving at such speed.
Coroner Brooks also said: ‘One can only describe this as a tragic loss of four young lively ambitious people, full of energy, full of potential, and their sudden unexpected passing is truly tragic.’
