Daughter Hopes Inquest Will End 18 Month Wait For Answers Regarding Father’s Death

A daughter has spoken of how her family is still waiting for answers 18 months after her father was fatally injured in a collision with a police car.

Leslie Bingham was walking to Sheffield’s Owlerton Greyhound Stadium to celebrate his granddaughter, Katie’s 21st birthday, when he was involved in a collision with a marked South Yorkshire Police vehicle.

Following the 73-year-old’s death, his family instructed specialist road accident lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to help investigate the collision.

Leslie’s daughter, Angela, has now spoken of how she hopes an upcoming inquest will provide her ‘close-knit family’ with ‘vital’ answers regarding her father’s death.

Paying tribute to her father, Angela, said: “Dad was really fit and healthy and he used to enjoy walking everywhere. There’s not a day goes by that we don’t miss him. He was such a loving and caring person who would do anything for his family. We are a small but close-knit family and dad loved being around us, particularly Katie.

“While time has moved on since his death our family hasn’t. We know the inquest is going to be difficult, having to relive what happened that night, but we just need to know the full reasons why he died.”

Leslie, of Malin Bridge, had been walking along Owlerton Green, Hillsborough. The collision with a South Yorkshire Police Vauxhall Antara SUV happened on Penistone Road at the junction of Owlerton Green, at about 6.20pm Saturday, 7 January, 2017. Leslie was sadly pronounced dead at the scene.

Expert Opinion

Whilst it is only correct that a thorough investigation to establish all the facts about what happened on the evening Leslie died needed to take place, not knowing the full picture has caused a great deal of anguish for Angela and her family as they have attempted to try and come to terms with Leslie’s death.

“The family rightly have a number of concerns about what happened on the evening in question and hope the inquest provides them with vital answers.” Louise Morgan - Associate Solicitor

Following the collision the police watchdog, the Independent Police Complaints Commission, now called the Independent Office for Police Conduct, launched an investigation. The findings have not yet been published.

An inquest into Leslie’s death is due to start on Monday, 18 June, at Sheffield’s Medico-Legal Centre and is listed for four days.

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