Junior doctor died after another motorist swerved head on into oncoming lorry

Maisie Ryan, 27, who grew up in Derbyshire, was killed instantly when the 'out of control' lorry ploughed into her Fiat 500 after Oliver Knott's 'unexplained' manoeuvre sent it hurtling down a slope.

University student Oliver, 21, also died at the scene of the crash on the A65 in Ilkley, West Yorks., in February 2021. An inquest into their deaths heard Oliver was driving his Ford Fiesta from his family home in Ilkley to a dental appointment in Shipley at the time.

It was heard that other drivers saw Oliver, who was studying geography at the University of Liverpool, overtaking traffic on the A65 Addingham bypass.He was seen by a witness to suddenly swerve into the path of a Scania cattle truck travelling in the other direction, causing a head-on crash.

Oliver was killed instantly and the impact disabled the lorry’s steering, causing it to career out of control, the inquest heard.It struck a glancing blow to another HGV in the opposite carriageway before hitting Maisie's Fiat as she was driving to a work at Airedale Hospital in nearby Keighley.

Anna Robinson, who was driving the livestock transporter, was left dangling upside down in the cab suspended by her seatbelt and suffered serious injuries.

Bradford Coroner’s Court heard Oliver had been ‘worried and preoccupied’ about the root canal treatment he was booked in for.But police investigators could find no obvious cause of the collision and there were no defects to the vehicles involved or the road.

Maisie's father Paul told the inquest she grew up in Derby and attended Newcastle University before starting her medical career with hospital posts in Yorkshire.

He described her as ‘caring, dedicated, selfless, driven, loving and sociable’. She had been in the process of buying her first house when she died, he said.Colleagues at Airedale Hospital have named a staff quiet room after her.

Oliver's dad Craig said he'd turned down the chance to join a football academy because he preferred to play with his friends. He told the inquest: “He brought energy to the family dynamic. He was sociable and polite and the impact of losing him has been impossible to put into words.”

Eyewitness Lauren Richardson said she saw Oliver's Fiesta pull out into the overtaking lane to pass a Volvo flatbed lorry driven by Roy Clifford.She said: “The Fiesta suddenly and abruptly veered into the opposite lane at about a 60-degree angle. It hit the large cattle transporter coming towards it.”

She described a ‘scene of devastation’ as the livestock lorry, which was taking 16 cattle from a farm in Lancashire to a slaughterhouse in Pontefract, had overturned.

All drivers involved were tested for drugs and alcohol and all readings came back negative, the court heard.There was also no evidence of mobile phone usage when handsets were analysed.Postmortems showed Oliver was unlikely to have suffered a medical episode.

But evidence from his GP was read to the inquest that revealed he'd not been sleeping in the days before the crash.And from 2019, he'd sought treatment and counselling for low mood, and been prescribed antidepressants.

However, by the time of the accident, his mental state was said to have ‘turned a corner’.His father said he thought the issues were connected to disciplinary proceedings against him by the university, which took 16 months to conclude.

Mr Knott added: “We had no concerns about him. He was just a typical lad of his age. He was concerned about his dental work because he was queasy about needles and blood.”

DC Martin Burns said police found paracetamol and ibuprofen in a glass underneath Mr Knott’s bed.Analysis of his laptop revealed online searches for suicide methods involving painkillers, but there were no searches related to vehicle-related methods.

Forensic collision investigator Robert Crispin told the inquest: “Maisie had tried to take evasive action, but there was nowhere for her to go.There is no evidence Oliver’s driving was untoward before the impact, but also no physical evidence to suggest why he encroached into the Scania's lane.

"The reason is unknown. It’s impossible to say if he was distracted by something like a stone through the windscreen, because the car was destroyed.”

Returning a conclusion of death in a road traffic collision for both Maisie and Oliver, senior coroner Martin Fleming said: “Oliver made an attempt to overtake a lorry and collided with the Scania.

"I emphasise that cocaine did not show up in his toxicology results, and he had not taken painkillers. Maisie was overtaken by events outside of her control. The causation rests with Oliver, but the reasons for that are unclear. He did struggle with depression, but this was limited to a period of time.

"We heard some evidence that he had searched for articles about taking his own life, but he left no notes and there were no red flags picked up by his family.

"He was actively making plans for the future. There is no evidence he deliberately conducted this manoeuvre. He may have been distracted or his mind elsewhere.

"Why, we will never know, but this inadvertence has cost two young lives. It is a combined tragedy of gigantic proportions.

"Two young, promising individuals with so much ahead of them have been lost and I am so very sorry.”