A WREXHAM man died in a high speed road accident in what a coroner has described as a ‘tragic waste of a young life’.

Arron Griffiths-Mahoney, 20, was killed after his car hit the steps of the Christadelphian Hall in Rhosrobin on the evening of July 19, an inquest heard.

Mr Griffiths-Mahoney, who had passed his driving test on May 27, was driving his two-week-old Peugeot 106 along Llay New Road with one passenger, friend Brvon Williams, 22.

At about 10.50pm the car hit a pillar, a fence and then collided side-on with the church steps before coming to a rest on its side.

Mr Williams, of Shones Lane, Llay told the hearing at Wrexham magistrates’ court that he could only recall seeing his friend “fighting with the steering wheel as if out of control and trying to correct the car.”

Mr Williams then became aware that the car was on its side and managed to climb out of a gap.

He collapsed at a nearby bus shelter suffering from a fractured right hip, bruising to the right lung and spine and chipped teeth.

Mr Griffiths-Mahoney was stuck in the car and had to be removed by firefighters using specialist cutting equipment.

Despite attempts at resuscitation he was pronounced dead at Wrexham Maelor hospital at 11.30pm.

Mr Griffiths-Mahoney, lived with two others at Long Lane, Brynteg and worked as a trainee joiner.

His step-father Robert Mark Jones described him as a person who loved to socialise and said that he was ‘angry for Arron’ that it happened at the happiest he had seen him in his life. The crash happened in a 30-limit area and Mr Williams said in a statement that he felt that his friend had been driving within the limit.

But a report from North Wales Police advanced collision investigation officer, Diane Mann, said that if they had been travelling at 30 miles an hour the vehicle would have come to a stop 2.47 metres before the end of the skidded tyre mark and there would have been no collision.

Her conclusions were read aloud by PC George Skinner as she was unable to attend the hearing due to ill-health.

Her report said the car was ‘one of the most extensively-damaged vehicles’ she had ever seen.

She said that the vehicle had been travelling ‘significantly in excess of the limit’ and that it was ‘consistent with the loss of control because of the speed’.

She added that there were no defects with the vehicle and that both driver and passenger had been wearing seatbelts.

Mr Hughes dismissed an allegation by Mr Griffiths-Mahoney’s stepfather Mr Jones that Mr Williams had ‘interfered’ with the driving.

The hearing was told Mr Griffiths-Mahoney and Mr Williams had been socialising in the British Legion Club in Llay before the accident.

Mr Griffiths-Mahoney was not over the drink-drive limit, according to Mr Williams.
Recording a verdict of accidental death, Mr Hughes dubbed the accident a 'fateful miscalculation of speed'.

He said: “These were totally unsurvivable injuries.

“This is a high-speed impact and he lost control and his reaction was to brake, it skids, slides and then impacts.

“This is a classic high-speed case and there is no way he could have survived. It is a tragic waste of a young life.”