The 11 men who died as the result of a horror crash at the Shoreham Airshow were unlawfully killed, a coroner has ruled.
The victims were killed seven years ago when a Hawker Hunter jet performing for crowds crashed onto the A27 in West Sussex in August 2015.
The victims of the disaster ranged from talented young footballer Jacob Schilt, who died while on the way to a football match with a pal, Matthew Grimstone, who also died in the crash, to 72-year-old Graham Mallinson, was a keen photographer.
Andy Hill, the pilot at the helm of the vintage plane during the botched loop-the-loop, survived and was acquitted in 2020 of gross negligence manslaughter. He maintains he has no recollection of the crash.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch concluded the plane crashed because it began the manoeuvre too low to the ground and its entry speed and thrust was too low towards the A27 during a loop.
Senior Coroner Penelope Schofield said that although she recorded a narrative verdict of unlawful killing, that did not "detract from the fact" of Mr Hill's acquittal in a criminal court.
She did, however, tell the court it was "clear and obvious" that the pilot should have abandoned the manoeuvre he was undertaking, adding: "This was not a close or difficult judgment call."
"Even experienced pilots on the ground could see (the plane) was too low," she said.
"The poor position of the plane in the sky was a further significant error - this plane should not have been lined up with a dual carriageway."
The coroner said “countless others have been psychologically affected” by the crash in Sussex on August 22 2015, in which a further 13 people had been injured.
Delivering her narrative verdict of an unlawful killing for all 11 men on Tuesday, Ms Schofield said: "Eleven innocent lives were cruelly lost on August 22, 2015. Lives that were cut way too short.
"This huge loss will be worn by the families for the rest of their lives. It has been a long journey, some seven years for you, to get the answers you wanted.
"It has been a difficult journey getting to this stage. I hope you feel that through these proceedings, you now have a voice."
Ms Schofield told the inquest in Horsham that the victims played “absolutely no part” in the cause of their own death.
She added that the pen portraits provided to the court were “truly heart-breaking to listen to”.
Recording a narrative verdict, Ms Schofield said each man "was unlawfully killed when a Hawker Hunter T7 aircraft crashed while attempting an incorrectly flown looping manoeuvre".
The coroner said: "The crash occurred because the aircraft's speed on entry into the manoeuvre was too slow and the thrust applied by the pilot in the upward half of the manoeuvre was insufficient.
"The aircraft did not achieve sufficient height at the apex of the manoeuvre to complete it before impacting the ground because the combination of low entry speed and low engine thrust in the upward half of the manoeuvre.
"Despite the aircraft being significantly short of the minimum apex height to complete the manoeuvre safely, the pilot did not perform an escape manoeuvre.
"The deaths occurred because the aircraft crashed on the A27 due to a change of ground track during the manoeuvre which positioned the aircraft further east than planned, producing an exit track along the dual carriageway."
The coroner finished her conclusions by reading out the names of the 11 men who died in the incident.
A number of members of the victims' families were present and were in tears as the remarks were delivered.
Mr Hill was not called as a witness during the inquest, having submitted evidence to the investigation.
His 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.
Sarah Stewart, partner at law firm Stewarts, who represented a number of families in the disaster, said after the conclusion: "The families we represent would like to thank the senior coroner for her thorough investigation.
"The senior coroner has found that the deaths of the 11 innocent men in the Shoreham Airshow disaster on 22 August 2015 were avoidable.
"The bereaved families have waited more than seven years to reach this point and, although the senior coroner's conclusion will not ease the pain of their loss, their voices have been heard."
