Bottom row (left to right) Dylan Archer, Richard Smith, Graham Mallinson, Maurice Abrahams and Daniele Polito
The 11 men who died when a plane crashed at the Shoreham Airshow were unlawfully killed, a coroner has ruled.
A Hawker Hunter aircraft crashed on to the A27 during an aerial display at the event in West Sussex on August 22 2015.
The conclusion was reached on Tuesday afternoon, more than seven years after the incident, which injured 13 other people including the pilot, Andrew Hill.
West Sussex Senior Coroner Penelope Schofield said: “Eleven innocent lives were cruelly lost, lives that were cut too short. This huge loss will be borne by their families for the rest of their lives.”
A number of the victims’ family members were present and were in tears as the conclusion was delivered at County Hall in Horsham.
Mr Hill was charged with 11 counts of manslaughter by gross negligence but found not guilty on all counts in March 2019. He maintains he has no recollection of the crash.
He was not called as a witness, having submitted evidence to the investigation.
Mr Hill’s request at the pre-inquest review in September for Ms Schofield to rule out a verdict of unlawful killing was denied.
The 11 victims were Anthony Brightwell, 53, from Hove; Daniele Polito, 23, from Goring-by-Sea; Dylan Archer, 42, from Brighton; Jacob Schilt, 23, from Brighton; James Mallinson, 72, from Newick; Mark Reeves, 53, from Seaford; Mark Trussler, 54, from Worthing; Matthew Grimstone, 23, from Brighton; Matthew Jones, 24, from Littlehampton; Maurice Abrahams, 76, from Brighton; and Richard Smith, 26, from Hove.
this is really, really simple – Hill did a loop the loop directly over the a27 – that is gross and outrageous negligence whether he passed out or not. why is he being protected? probably because shoreham airshow should/will be sued for millions in compensation. sickening for the memory of those poor victims and their families
adrian hunn
In fact the pilot performed the loop in the recognised flying zone therefore he was correct and no negligence on where he performed the loop can be questioned.
What can be questioned is if he should have been flying that loop in this display at all, he was too low, thought he was flying a different jet, and lots of questions need to be answered where policies and procedures by the display organisers, but I doubt they ever will.