A 16-year-old girl screamed the driver’s name moments before the car she was travelling in crashed into the River Nene near Wisbech, an inquest has heard. Eden Bunn, from Sutton Bridge in Lincolnshire, died after a Volkswagen Polo carrying five teenagers left North Brink and entered the river on March 17. The driver, 18-year-old Declan Berry, also died following the collision. Three other teenagers — two 16-year-old girls and an 18-year-old boy — managed to escape from the vehicle. An inquest into Eden’s death concluded on Tuesday, September 22, before Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Coroner Elizabeth Gray at Vantage House in Huntingdon. The inquest recorded Eden’s cause of death as a head injury resulting from a road traffic collision. Evidence heard during the hearing described North Brink as having a 60mph speed limit, with “numerous potholes” and uneven surfaces along the road. One surviving passenger told the inquest that Berry had been travelling at around 90mph shortly before the crash. The passenger said they asked him to slow down and recalled him replying that they would be fine. The witness believed Berry had been trying to “show off” and said a pothole may have contributed to the vehicle suddenly losing control. Another passenger told the hearing that they were accustomed to Berry driving quickly and recalled Eden shouting “Declan” moments before the collision. A third survivor described the Polo flipping and rolling before entering the river and recalled hearing a thud beforehand, which they believed could have been the vehicle hitting a pothole. A nearby witness told the inquest he heard a loud impact and saw the vehicle “rolling through the air”. He contacted the emergency services before going to help locate the survivors. An inquest into Berry’s death, held a day earlier, heard that he died from drowning and had three penalty points on his driving licence. Following Eden’s inquest, her parents Dean and Lisa, brother Jay and sister Shelby described her as the “kindest most wonderful person” and said the sudden loss had left the family heartbroken. They said they did not want to criticise the teenage driver, acknowledging that his family were also living through the loss of a child. Eden’s family had previously described her as a loving girl whose horses, Daisy and Dolly, “were her world”.  

Originally published by UKNIP.