Coroner apologises to victim's families of Shoreham airshow tragedy
A coroner yesterday apologised to the families of 11 men killed in the Shoreham Airshow tragedy over their seven-year wait for answers.
Penelope Schofield ex-pressed her “deepest regret” that the ordeal of relatives had been “added to” by delays to the inquest.
She said their loved ones had died “in the most horrific circumstances” when a 1950s Hawker Hunter plane crashed on to the A27 in West Sussex and exploded in flames in August 2015. Thirteen others were injured in the UK’s deadliest airshow incident for 50 years.
Pilot Andrew Hill was charged with 11 counts of manslaughter, but was found not guilty in 2019.
The inquest in Horsham opened in September 2015, but was adjourned because of the trial and the pandemic.
Yesterday it heard from the parents of two victims – pals Jacob Schilt and Matthew Grimstone, both 23, who died on their way to play football for Worthing United.
Jacob’s mum, Caroline, wept as she said his family will “never, ever recover”. Matthew’s dad, Phil, said his family found it difficult to bear the fact he “lost his life due to an aircraft being flown purely for entertainment”.
At an earlier hearing, Ms Schofield said the inquest “would not reinvestigate the crash” but denied a request from Mr Hill to rule out a verdict of unlawful killing.
The inquest continues.
