Driver twice drink and 15 times drug limit in fatal crash

INQUEST HEARS OF LEAD UP TO CRASH THAT KILLED CHAD, 21

- By ANDREW ROBINSON

A much-loved young man who died in hospital days after his car hit a wall had taken cocaine and had been drinking, an inquest heard.

Chadwick George Matheson, known as Chad, sadly died in Leeds General Infirmary on July 12 last year following a collision in which his Mercedes hit a wall outside The Sovereign pub in Shepley on Saturday, July 6. The force of the impact sent stones from the wall into the side of the pub. The Mercedes hit two parked cars and flipped onto its roof.

Chad, 21, from Huddersfield, was later found to have cocaine and alcohol in his system and he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, Bradford Coroners’ Court heard. The hearing was attended by two of Chad's friends and his parents, Peter and Melanie, who last year described Chad as “loving, caring and honest.”

The night before the collision, Chad and a female friend had been to Dewsbury to buy four bags of cocaine for £100. She said they “went through all four bags” and she had barely slept.