Beragh man would have died ‘almost instantly’, inquest told

THE young Beragh man who was killed after colliding with a vehicle on the west-bound lane of the M1 near Dungannon six years ago would have died almost instantly from the head injuries which he sustained, the inquest into his death has been told.

Darryl Thompson, 22, from Kilcalm Road, was struck in the back by the vehicle between the Tamnamore Road junction and the Dungannon junction on the night of November 10, 2018.

He had been returning home from a ‘drift’ car-racing event at Tullyroan near Loughgall when the collision happened at around 10pm.

A woman who was travelling in the same vehicle as Mr Thompson, said that four of them, including Darryl, had been attending the event.

Kellie Keenan stated to police at the time that Darrly was seated in the back of the vehicle with another man.

They had become involved in an argument which she believed to be ‘over girls,’ and had begun to ’twist and argue’ while they were travelling home. She said that this had continued ‘the whole time’ that they were in the car.

She told of how she and the driver of the vehicle had said to them to ’calm down. At one stage on the journey, Darryl Thompson had asked to get out of the car to urinate and had continued to be angry.

Later, she said how the two of them had continued to argue and were involved in a fist-fight in the back seat.

But, when asked about this piece of her statement at the inquest, she stated that she could not remember if the two men had been fighting.

“Darryl Thompson was angry and wanted out of the car and said that he would pull up the hand-brake,” she added. The inquest was told that at this stage Darryl Thompson had reached towards the handbrake.

Ms Keenan said that they had then pulled up on the hard-shoulder between Tamnamore and Dungannon.

She said that Darryl Thompson had got out of the vehicle, and walked past her. She added that the 22 year-old wanted to walk home rather than be in the vehicle, and that she had told him to get back into the vehicle.

The inquest was told that she had remembered following Mr Thompson as he walked up the hard-shoulder and told him to get back into the vehicle when she reached him.

She said that it was at this stage that she recalled looking up and seeing the collision which resulted in Mr Thompson’s death.

She said that the driver of the vehicle had run over to where Mr Thompson was lying.

“We were both in shock, hugging and crying. I heard crying from the girl who had hit him,” she said.

Although Ms Keenan had told police at the time that Mr Thompson and the other man in the back seat had become involved in a fist-fight in the back of the vehicle, she told the inquest that she could not remember whether that had happened or not.