Father criticises police over handling of inquiry into son's death

Wednesday 06 September 2023

Police have apologised for "unintentionally" causing upset to the family of an "intelligent" and "witty" 31-year-old killed in a "tragic" crash, following a claim from his father that they were kept in the dark during the investigation.

Stephen Fisher’s son, Christopher, died when his new Nissan Skyline sports car left the road and crashed into a tree. No other vehicles were involved.

An inquest held this morning concluded that no-one was to blame for the crash and Relief Coroner Bridget Dolan concluded it was "a tragic accident".

"Conflicting accounts"

But Mr Fisher says that for 10 months the family were not informed about the investigation or given any concrete details. He said their treatment by States of Jersey Police had made the experience "extremely difficult".

He said: "We appreciate that the police have a lot to do, but we were given conflicting accounts. We were told initially there was another car, that car may have caused the accident, that the driver never rang the emergency services and left Chris to die by the side of the road.

"We didn’t know what to believe and what not to believe."

Mr Fisher said the witness statements would have had a clearer idea of what had actually happened.

Criminal investigation concern

However, during the inquest, Chief Inspector Sian Gidley, who was the investigating officer at the time, said the evidence could not be released.

This was in case the incident became a criminal investigation, she said.

The accident happened on the afternoon of 11 February 2021. The inquest heard that the red Nissan had been shipped over from the UK and Chris had only taken delivery of it that morning.

Pictured: The crash happened along La Grande Route de St. Ouen, near St. Ouen's Manor.

Chris was driving along La Grande Route de St. Ouen and moved to overtake a car in front of him. When he moved back into his own lane, he appeared to have swerved and left the road. The vehicle spun round and hit a tree and he suffered multiple injuries to his head and chest.

"No evidence of excessive speed"

Inspector Rob Manners, who specialises in investigating collisions, said the car was in "good working order" and that there was no evidence of "excessive speed or concerning driving".

Toxicology reports showed Chris was not under the influence of alcohol, drugs or medication.

After the verdict Mr Fisher paid tribute to his "intelligent, witty and funny" son, adding that "his absence leaves a great hole".

He said he hoped the States of Jersey Police would "learn some lessons" from what happened.

Police later said in a statement that they "entirely accept" the concerns of the family and that they had met them to discuss them in detail.

"We are working hard to ensure that this is not repeated in the future"

"We apologise for the occasions on which our communications have unintentionally caused upset and we are working hard to ensure that this is not repeated in the future," the Force said.

They said officers had recently received College-of-Policing-approved training with input from a UK experts, and had also updated their policies for road crash investigations.

This, officers said, focused in particular "on the requirement for early, comprehensive and regular family engagement and briefing, coupled with an additional senior officer review function to support the SIO where necessary and appropriate."

"We are confident that this enhanced training and policy review will positively support all aspects of such future investigations," they added.