Elderly brothers hit while crossing road had been arm-in-arm

BROTHERS WERE seen standing arm-in-arm moments before a car collision killed them both, an inquest heard.

John Sharkey, a 76-year-old retired miner also known by his middle name Raymond, and his brother Arthur, 79, lived together in Glenorchy Road, on the borders of Nether Edge and Millhouses in Sheffield.

They were crossing their home street, near the junction with Struan Road, on the afternoon of June 2, 2016, when they were hit by a blue Audi A4, which was rolling backwards.

Both were taken to hospital but never recovered from their injuries, with John dying on June 17 and his brother dying a month later on July 18.

Sheffield Coroner’s Court was told how Nazem Hussain, who was driving the Audi, had taken a wrong turning and stopped before letting the car roll backwards. Jurors heard how the driver had told a police officer at the scene: “I hardly touched them. I don’t know where they came from.”

Mr Hussain was unable to appear in court as he was seriously assaulted on July 17, 2016, when someone deliberately drove at him, and he remains incapacitated by his injuries.

Pc Paula Townsend, of Sheffield Serious Collisions Unit, told the court this assault was “completely unrelated” to the incident in which the brothers were fatally wounded.

She said the Crown Prosecution Service had decided that it would not be in the public interest to pursue the case. Jurors concluded the brothers had died as a result of a road traffic collision.

They said the siblings had stepped out to cross the road when “unexpectedly to them” the car started rolling backwards.