A sheep farmer who would have 'done anything for anybody' tragically died after being struck by a car as he crossed the road to open a field gate. Alec Heyworth was sent flying into the air following the collision and landed on his head in front of his horrified dad Paul.
The 23-year-old sustained a traumatic brain injury and sadly passed away at Royal Stoke University Hospital the next day on May 2. Alec and his father had been on their way to transfer some lambs into a field next to the A523 in Rushton Spencer.
Travelling in a Ford Ranger with the lambs in a trailer behind, they pulled over to the side of the road before Alec exited the passenger's side and walked around the front. However, as he stepped out onto the road, he was hit by Audi A3 that was overtaking on the 60mph stretch, Stoke-on-Trent Live reports.
In a statement, read out at the hearing, Alec's father Paul Heyworth said: "I drove at no more than 30mph as we had lambs in the back and I pulled over at one point to allow other vehicles to overtake and several cars passed me and the road behind me became clear.
"As I approached the fields I pulled up on the left side of the road, in the direction of Leek, just prior to the gates. We had a brief conversation as to which field we should put the lambs in, the left or right field, and Alec said to place them with the other lambs in the right hand side field.
"At this point the road in front of me was clear and with that Alec got out of the front passenger side and walked in front of the car and stepped out into the road. I was looking at Alec and within a matter of a second, or maybe two seconds, I saw a grey Audi travelling in the same direction to us coming from the right hand side behind our car and hit Alec.
"It flipped him in the air and I could see he landed on his head. I couldn't see any brake lights on the car, but it did stop.
"I was in total shock, I got out and went straight to Alec and I could see his chest was going up and down. I panicked and started CPR on his chest and thankfully there was an off duty paramedic from Stockport who said we didn't need to do CPR as he was breathing and they called 999.
"The paramedics and air ambulance arrived and he was taken to Royal Stoke University Hospital by land ambulance and placed in the critical care ward. However, due to his significant injury he passed away on May 2."
In a statement, the Audi driver said he saw the Ford Ranger and that it appeared to be an 'unattended vehicle'. He said: "I could see there was a pick up truck.
"There was no movement and I could see no drivers. It was just a parked and unattended vehicle as far as I could tell.
"I moved over on to the opposite side of the road to overtake and started to move back over to complete the manoeuvre. As I started to pull back over a male was in the road and put his hands out and jumped up, but it was already too late and he struck the front of my car."
A police investigation found there were no vehicle faults with the Audi A3 and that there was a possibility that neither the Audi driver or Alec could see one another. Speaking at the inquest collision investigator PC Roger Wetton explained that it was not possible to say what speed the Audi was driving at.
Alec, from Smallwood, grew up on his family's farm and attended Smallwood Primary School and Holmes Chapel Secondary School. The inquest heard he did an apprenticeship to become a chef for two years before deciding to work with his father on their farm.
His father Paul said: "He was a worker, he worked six days a week from 9am until 9pm and every Sunday morning. He enjoyed manual labour.
"He was in a relationship with his girlfriend and they had been together for the last seven years. They had recently talked about wanting to get married, plans to start a family and she lived with us at the farm since pretty much the beginning of their relationship."
A cause of death was provided as 1A traumatic brain injury caused by 1B road traffic collision. Area coroner Emma Serrano concluded that Alec died as a result of a traumatic brain injury after being struck by a vehicle on the road that he was hit.
Speaking after the inquest Alec's partner Brittany Swinnerton said: "He was the nicest person, he would have done anything for anybody."
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