Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Mother to fight on over crash tragedy
Grieving parents may prosecute son’s friend
Parents who lost their son in a car accident near Canterbury say they will continue their fight for justice after a five-year wait for an inquest ruling into his death.
Tony Woodmansee died when the car in which he was travelling lost control on the wrong side of the road and collided with another car on the A291 near the Wildwood animal park on Thursday, October 28, 2010.
Despite surgery at the Royal Free Hospital in London, doctors were unable to save the 20-yearold scrapyard manager, who had suffered devastating brain injuries, and he died on November 6.
Tony’s friend James Moxey had denied a charge of causing death by dangerous driving before the case was dropped in March 2012.
Snapped
Mr Moxey’s defence experts looked at the car 11 months after the crash and found evidence of a snapped suspension bracket, which had not been spotted in the original police investigation.
Tony’s parents, Sally and Tony, from Herne Bay, were then left in the dark after the inquest was delayed in July 2012.
Meanwhile, Mr Moxey moved to Australia, leaving the coroner’s court unable to trace him to appear via video link.
But last week Tony’s inquest was resumed by assistant coroner Christopher Morris, who heard from the expert investigators and from the police officers involved. He recorded a verdict of death by road traffic accident.
Mr and Mrs Woodmansee have welcomed the outcome, but now want to seek legal advice about prosecuting Mr Moxey privately.
The inquest heard that when Moxey was interviewed he had told police he had spent the day at work with Tony, and they were on their way to Canterbury at just after 7pm.
He said: “I’ve never driven silly before. The back end of my car started sliding and I didn’t know what was happening. It was coming out from underneath me.
“I saw the headlights, but I don’t remember the impact, it’s a bit hazy. I can’t remember looking down at the speedometer. But I was not travelling at an excessive speed like 80mph.
“I don’t drive around fast. I’m not an idiot who drives around and shows off, just ask most people that know me.”
Christopher Wood, who had been driving in the opposite direction and was hit by the Peugeot, said in a statement: “I was approaching a gentle left hand bend, but the other car came around the bend at high speed. Instead of straightening up he then came across the road directly towards my path.”
In court, Mrs Woodmansee stated her belief that Mr Moxey had been driving dangerously.
She said: “The car was travelling on the wrong side of the road. We were told there were no skid marks for braking and that it was going too fast.
“It means Moxey was not paying attention, as the normal human reaction is to brake.”
Speaking outside court after the inquest, she said: “It’s been really difficult. We didn’t want the coroner to be misled and come up with the wrong conclusions about Tony’s passing.
“The inquest has really brought back what the police said to us in the first place, that this should go to court.”
The family said they wished to pursue a private prosecution.