The life of a ‘happy and loving’ 18-year-old was tragically cut short when the car she was travelling in collided with two trees.

The driver said he had swerved in order to avoid a deer in the road.

Jodie Hynes, who had not been wearing her seatbelt, was thrown from either the passenger door or window while the car spun around, an inquest at Exeter’s County Hall today heard.

She suffered a fatal head and neck injury and sadly passed away at North Devon District Hospital nearly 13 hours after the incident on March 16, 2018.

It was alleged in a police statement by the driver, Zack Cole, 26, who had consumed drugs and alcohol, that Jodie tried to crawl back to the car and asked for his help to get back into the passenger seat, which is where she was found when help arrived at the scene.

However, a pathologist who examined her body said that due to the extent of her injuries, which also include a thigh fracture, that for her to so was not impossible but ‘very unlikely’.

It was added by a collision investigator that if Jodie had been wearing a seatbelt she would have remained in the car.

The inquest heard that prior to the fatal collision Jodie had been drinking alcohol with friends and she had been driven around by Zack, who had gone to get more alcohol for them during the course of the evening and early hours of the morning.

After 2am, he and Jodie had gone to Barnstaple to purchase more alcohol and on their return journey Zack’s Vauxhall Corsa crashed into a tree at around 3.25am just north of Snapper Village, near Barnstaple.

Jodie, of Lynton, had been due to bring the alcohol back to a friend's house where they had been drinking.

She was joined there by friend Muzic Litson who told in a statement how they had all been drinking but Zack had not joined in with Jägermeisters and when she had been in the car with him earlier she recalled him driving quite fast but ‘felt safe’.

She added that when he had last gone out to buy more alcohol he had been reluctant to do so.

She said: “He was looking at me and I could see he did not want to go.

“Zack was not wanting to say no to keep us happy. Jodie asked to go with him and I felt I should stay.”

She added: “I was not that drunk anymore.”

Zack did not attend the inquest to give evidence and instead details were read out from two police interviews he gave.

He told how he had been driving around a right hand bend when a deer suddenly jumped from behind the tree he crashed into and stopped in the road.

He stated he had ‘little or no time to react’ and steered to the rear of it to avoid it and collided with the tree.

Zack told police: “Jodie was ejected from the vehicle and landed in the carriageway. It was so dark I could not immediately find her and had to search with my hands.”

He continued: “She was crawling back to the car and barely talking. She said, ‘I need to get into the car’ so I helped her back as much as I could.”

Zack was tested for drink and drugs three hours after the crash, and admitted to having drunk a 500ml bottle of beer.

PC Lomas said: “He denied he consumed more despite having toxicology evidence put to him.”

Passer-by Barry Hill told in a statement how he saw the impact of the collision after it occurred when Zack flagged him down by the vehicle.

He recalled: “I could see damage to the passenger side and a female slumped in passenger front seat. He told me something along the lines, ‘she has not got a pulse, she’s stuck in the car’.”

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PC Reed told in a statement how he had struggled to get Jodie out of the car through the door.

He recalled it had been bent about half open, and he had been unable to open it further.

He said: “I would have found it hard to believe he (Zack) assisted in getting her back in the car with that gap. I had to force door further than what it was open.”

He added: “He was very upset, and almost frantic in his behaviours.”

A post mortem examination confirmed the cause of Jodie’s death was head and neck injuries.

Dr Russell Delaney, home office forensic pathologist described how her ‘significant’ head injury was consistent with having been thrown through a passenger window or door in the collision.

It was considered ‘likely’ that the neck fracture she sustained would have caused a spinal cord injury, but he said it could not be confirmed.

When asked if she would have been able to get back into the car after sustaining her injuries, he said: “They are not the type injuries I would expect an individual to be able to do. On the balance of probability I think it’s very unlikely.

"Even without a brain injury or spinal injury, crawling back to the car with a fracture of the left thigh bone does not make it impossible but it would have extremely difficult and extraordinarily painful.”

Dr Delaney confirmed no drugs were detected in Jodie’s system, and it had not been possible to determine whether she had consumed alcohol before her death.

Forensic collision investigator PC Stuart Parratt confirmed both Jodie and Zack had not been wearing seatbelts.

Defects were found with the vehicle but they were not a contributory factor to the collision. It was not possible to determine the speed the vehicle had been travelling.

Using a ‘back calculation’ to look at the impact the consumption of alcohol Zack could have had, he said: “At the time driving it is most likely the alcohol concentration was in excess of the prescribed limit.”

The legal drink driving limit is 80mg per 100mls of blood. It was stated Zack’s was most likely around 86mgs.

The level of cannabis was below the legal drive limit. It was added the combination of cannabis and alcohol may offer an explanation to the cause of the crash and that the driver could have failed to negotiate the bend safely.

However, based on Zack’s version of events, PC Parratt said: “It is possible the driver may have had to take action to avoid a deer in the road. Without knowing the exact position of the deer it is not possible to know if there was sufficient distance to pass it.

“It is also possible alcohol and cannabis may have had an effect on the driver’s perception and the space in between and ability to perform the manoeuvre successfully.”

He concluded: “I would rule out excessive speed, but not misintention. That’s as probable as him having to avoid a deer in the road.”

The scene was also investigated by PC Julian Fry, a wildlife crime officer for Devon and Cornwall police. He was asked to assess the area for animal tracks where the collision took place which he did using photographic evidence and a later visit to the scene.

He confirmed there was signs of ‘consistent occasional’ use by deer.

Mr Fry said: “It’s difficult to say how recent the deer prints are from the images. Giving an educated estimate it is very likely they were made in the previous 12 to 24 hours.”

Coroner Philip Spinney recorded a conclusion of road traffic collision.

Following her death, Jodie’s family said in tribute to her: “Beautiful daughter who will be missed and never forgotten.


. This article was amended on October 12, at 11.15am, to correct that the house Jodie Hynes had been drinking at before she died was not Muzic Litson's home, but another friend.