Inquest returns narrative verdict on plane crash couple

AN engine problem and bad weather led to a plane crash that killed an Alcester couple and left their six-year-old son orphaned, a coroner has ruled.

Lewis and Sally Tonkinson (pictured) died when the light aircraft Mr Tonkinson was piloting stalled in the sky during poor weather conditions and came crashing down near a tree-line near Popham Airfield in Hampshire on 3rd January 2015.

The couple, from Cook Hill, near Alcester, had been returning home in their light aircraft after visiting friends on the Isle of Wight when the tragedy happened.

The inquest in Basingstoke, today Wednesday heard the couple were pronounced dead at the scene having received unsurvivable injuries.

Addressing the jury, Coroner Andrew Bradley said: "I think the evidence you have heard does not lead to a positive conclusion. It is quite clear the weather did not help and the TCU did not help.

Following a 40 minute deliberation, the jury returned a narrative verdict for the deaths of both Mr and Mrs Tonkinson.

Full story in Thursday’s Herald.