Buckinghamshire student crushed to death by own car on sloped icy driveway, inquest hears
As the 21-year-old unloaded the car from the rear, the vehicle “slipped” and she was pinned to a wall - she later died from a brain injury due to the compression and lack of oxygen
A student was crushed to death by her own car while unloading her belongings on a sloped icy driveway at her accommodation which had no barriers in place, a coroner found.
Aspiring social worker Eleisha Skinner, 21, of Faversham in Kent, was studying at Buckinghamshire New University and had reverse parked her black Audi A1 outside the property in High Wycombe on January 4 having returned from the Christmas break.
As she unloaded the car from the rear, the vehicle “slipped” and Ms Skinner was pinned to a wall outside the accommodation, the inquest heard.
Another resident at the accommodation called emergency services after he heard a “bang”, a woman “scream” and shouts of “get off, get off” before finding Ms Skinner unconscious, the inquest heard.
Police officers at the scene noted that the “sloped” driveway was covered in ice after wintry weather, making it “very slippery”, senior coroner Crispin Butler told Buckinghamshire Coroner’s Court on Tuesday.
But the driveway had not been salted or gritted and Mr Butler said there was no barrier or railings in place to stop “overrun”.
The coroner said he will write to the owners of the accommodation, Howarth Property, whom the inquest heard has since installed railings, so that they can set out what has been done to mitigate the safety of the driveway.
The firm wrote in a letter to the coroner that professional inspections of the property determined that the driveway was assessed as safe, the inquest heard.
But Mr Butler issued a prevention of future deaths report to Howarth Property amid concerns that an “incident could arise where another individual could die”.
The firm has 56 days to say what action had been taken.
Ms Skinner’s car was in neutral, had “no defects” and the handbrake was “fully up”, the inquest heard.
She was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford but died on January 8.
A medical examination found that she died from anoxic brain injury due to asphyxia compression, meaning pressure on her body prevented her from breathing properly.
Ms Skinner, who had been crowned “Miss Faversham” in 2022 and later “Miss Congeniality”, was described by her family in a statement read by Mr Butler as “kind, selfless and passionate young woman, who always put others before herself”.
They spoke of Ms Skinner’s “fun, bubbly personality” which meant “she was always the life and soul wherever she went” and said that she was the “kind of person who made the world brighter just by being in it”.
Their statement added: “We will carry her with us always, our beautiful Eleisha, forever loved, forever missed and never forgotten.”
Buckinghamshire New University said Ms Skinner would be awarded a posthumous BSc with honours in social work, the inquest heard.