Latest news with #EssexUniversity
Daily Mail
18-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Student, 22, was more than twice drink-drive limit when he hit 94mph before crash that killed him and three university friends, inquest hears
A student was more than twice the alcohol limit when he smashed into a building killing himself and three university friends, an inquest heard. Makyle Bayley, 22, was driving a Ford Focus ST at about 94mph in the early hours of Saturday, February 1, when he lost control of his car, a series of inquests was told. His friends - fellow Essex University students Eva Darold-Tchikaya, 21, Daljang Wol, 22, and TJ Hibbert, 24 - were passengers after being picked up in Colchester, Essex, in the early hours of the morning. Lincoln Brookes, Essex's area coroner, said they all had 'a lot of potential and dreams for the future' before concluding the four students died as a result of a road traffic collision. At a series of inquests held simultaneously today (June 18) for each student, Essex Coroner's Court heard Mr Bayley, Mr Wol, and Mr Hibbert had been at Trilogy nightclub in Colchester on Friday, January 31. Along with Miss Darold-Tchikaya, all four got into Mr Bayley's car in West Stockwell Street which then travelled up Balkerne Hill and along Southway towards St Botolph's roundabout. Essex Police's forensic collision expert, Sergeant James Lee, said cameras in Magdalen Street showed the car driving at an approximate speed of 88mph along the road - though it could have been going 6.3mph faster or slower. Reading from a report prepared in the weeks after the crash, Mr Lee said the car hit a traffic island opposite which caused severe damage to the driver's side tyre. As the car spun out of control, it then then swerved onto the other side of the road, clipped another kerb and then struck a staircase to a house. He said the momentum caused the car to turn onto its side before it collided roof first into Dusty's a second-hand shop. Following the crash members of Miss Darold-Tchikaya, My Bayley, Mr Wol, and Hibbert all paid tributes to their loved ones. Miss Darold-Tchikaya's family said she was a 'dearly loved daughter, sister, grand-daughter, and niece'. Mr Wol's family said: 'His smile was contagious and it touched everyone who knew him'. Mr Bayley's family said he was 'an extraordinary young man, full of life and promise'. Mr Hibbert's family said he left a 'lasting warmth in the hearts of everyone he met'. During the proceedings, the coroner read a report from Home Office pathologist Dr Ben Swift, who examined the bodies of the students after the crash. It was revealed a high level of alcohol was found in Makyle Bayley's system when he was driving the car. He said: 'Toxicology analysis has identified a blood alcohol concentration two-and-a-half times over the drink drive limit. 'Such a concentration in a social drinker might be expected to result in signs of significant or even extreme drunkenness, though individual tolerance to the effects of alcohol would make this difficult to predict.' The alcohol reading was given as 211 milligrams of alcohol in 100ml of blood. The legal drink drive limit is 80 milligrams. Talking on the students' deaths, Coroner Brooks said: 'Death was almost instantaneous and in any event all of them would have been unconscious if there was any brief interval before death. 'There was no possibility of them being saved, as it were. 'This was an irreversible situation.' He added the level of alcohol in Mr Bayley's system 'may have played a role' in him driving at such speed. Coroner Brooks also said: 'One can only describe this as a tragic loss of four young lively ambitious people, full of energy, full of potential, and their sudden unexpected passing is truly tragic.'
ITV News
18-07-2025
- ITV News
Drunk driver was speeding at 94mph before crash that killed four Essex University students
A drink driver twice the legal limit was travelling at speeds of nearly 100mph moments before a fatal crash that killed him and his three passengers, an inquest has heard. Essex University students Makyle Bayley, 22, Eva Darold-Tchikaya, 21, Anthony "TJ" Hibbert, 24, and Daljang Wol, 22, all died when their car hit a building in Magdalen Street in Colchester at 4.40am on 1 February. An inquest held in Chelmsford heard that investigators assessed the black Ford Focus was travelling at least 94 miles per hour in a 30mph zone in the moments before the crash. The inquest was also told that Makyle Bayley, the driver of the car, had a blood alcohol level two-and-a-half times the drink-drive limit when he died. Sgt James Lee, a forensic collision investigator, told the inquest that this meant there was a strong possibility that Mr Bayley may have been suffering the effects of intoxication at the time of the collision. He added, under questioning from the coroner, that alcohol could lead to an 'inability to make sound decisions,' and said that excessive speed had been a 'massive factor' in causing the crash. The court heard that the four University of Essex students had been at a nightclub in the town centre, which they left in the early hours of Saturday morning before getting into the car just after 4.30am. Footage captured from the Cut and Coffee barbers on Magdalen Street, showed the vehicle pass by at speed moments before the crash. PC Fiona Rayner, from Essex Police, said the car travelled 'at speed' up Magdalen Street before hitting a residential building and rolling over. The coroner read out a witness statement from a taxi driver who saw the crash, describing the Ford Focus as travelling 'really fast...I would suggest over 100mph.' He added that the car had begun 'swerving in the road' in the moments leading up to the crash. A pathologist later concluded that all had suffered severe head trauma, as well as other significant injuries. Offering his condolences to the family members gathered at the start of proceedings, Essex senior coroner Lincoln Brookes suggested the hearing was likely the most attended in the history of the Essex Coroner's Court. 'I don't lose track for a moment how tragic the loss of these four lives is to you,' he said. 'I hope that the proceedings today do not reopen any wounds; I hope that the process today might help with the grieving process,' he added. He read pen portraits of the four students, written by their families, in which they described their loved ones. Concluding, Mr Brookes said that the car had been driven at 'grossly excessive speed,' by an 'intoxicated' Mr Bayley, assessing that all four deaths would have been 'almost instantaneous'. He recorded all four deaths as caused by a road traffic collision. "I can only echo what all of you have said about the huge hole in all of your lives that the passing of these three young people must have left," the coroner said. "One can only describe this as a tragic loss of four young, lively, ambitious people," he said. "It is truly tragic." Families' tributes to four students Makyle Bayley was described as having a 'heart full of love.' He was a 'truly remarkable young man whose light and energy touched all who knew him,' his family wrote, praising his 'boundless curiosity and passion.' A talented basketball player, the 22-year-old 'led by example, setting a standard for his peers both on and off the court,' the inquest heard. 'In such a short time, he achieved so much.' Daljang Wol, known to friends as DJ, was a 'bright, talented and caring individual.' His family said he was a talented sportsman, with a 'deep passion' for basketball, representing a number of teams in London and Essex. They said he was 'deeply passionate about helping others grow, committed to leaving a lasting impact where he went.' His family described the 22-year-old as a 'constant source of joy, always bringing laughter and life to those around him,' who had been studying for a masters at the University of Essex after winning a scholarship. Anthony "TJ" Hibbert had a 'special bond with his mum,' his family said. 'He was the kind of person who stood on his principles and wanted others to see the good in the world.' They described a creative, passionate person, who 'wanted to be successful, wanted to do things the right way' and was 'persistent' with his love for basketball. 'TJ has played an important role in our lives - he knew how to live life to the fullest,' they concluded. 'He will forever hold a special place in our hearts.' Eva Darold-Tchikaya, 21, was a 'sweetheart', her family said, who was 'always smiling'. They said she had a 'calm and kind soul,' and was 'very happy shaping her future,' at the University of Essex. They added that she had a passion for dance, and was 'looking to travel the world'. 'There are no words to describe our despair, and our pain,' they concluded.
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Sir John Ashworth, Government Chief Scientist who taught Mrs Thatcher about climate change
Sir John Ashworth, who has died aged 86, was a distinguished biologist and educationalist who served in numerous leadership roles in universities and public health after a five-year stint (1976-81) as Chief Scientific Adviser at the Cabinet Office. Ashworth was seconded from Essex University, where he was a professor of biology, to the Cabinet Office under the government of James Callaghan, but in 1979 he had a somewhat alarming initial encounter with Callaghan's successor at No 10, Margaret Thatcher. He had asked for a meeting with the incoming Conservative Prime Minister and, as Charles Moore recounted in his biography of her, he was greeted with a brusque 'Who are you?' 'I'm your chief scientist,' Ashworth replied. 'Oh,' said Mrs Thatcher. 'Do I want one of those?' Ashworth explained his work, mentioning that he was working on a report about the then obscure subject of climate change. Mrs Thatcher stared at him and said: 'Are you standing there and seriously telling me that my government should worry about the weather?' 'I knew, if I didn't talk fast, I wouldn't have a job,' Ashworth recalled. In the event, he not only kept his job, but Mrs Thatcher went on to become the first political leader in any major country to warn of the dangers of climate change. Ashworth, meanwhile, became an amused observer of her foibles, recalling that if she became over-excited when wearing earrings (she wore the clip-on variety) her lobes would become engorged and sometimes, under pressure, an earring would pop off. He also become adept at steering Mrs Thatcher towards his own preferred policy conclusions. Early on, as part of her drive to reduce the number of quangos, she found herself confronted with the two that were the direct responsibility of the Cabinet Office: she was told by Ashworth and the then Cabinet Secretary Sir John Hunt that she had to choose between cutting either the National Council for Women or the Advisory Council for Applied Research and Development. Without hesitation she opted to preserve the latter, only for Ashworth to point out that it might look bad for the first woman prime minister to get rid of the National Council for Women. 'Mrs Thatcher reluctantly agreed,' Charles Moore recorded, 'and the result, which the two officials in this Yes, Prime Minister game had intended, was that both quangos survived.' John Ashworth was born on November 27 1938 in north Devon to Jack Ashworth and Constance, née Ousman. From West Buckland School and Exeter College, Oxford, he went on to complete a PhD in biochemistry at Leicester University, where his research focused on Dictyostelium – so-called 'slime moulds' that play an important role in the maintenance of balanced bacterial populations in soils. In 1973 he was appointed Founding Professor of Biology at the University of Essex, where he helped to build a new department (now the School of Life Sciences). In 1981, after retiring from Whitehall, he was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of Salford, a difficult role which he assumed shortly after the announcement of swingeing cuts to higher education budgets. Salford was one of the worst affected, with cuts of 44 per cent. 'I was told that there were some members of staff who just sat weeping in their offices, refusing to come out,' Ashworth recalled. Over the next 10 years he did much to restore morale, diversifying courses and initiating fruitful links with industry. In 1990 he became Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and over the next six years focused on securing the best teachers, libraries and facilities, fostering a collaborative spirit and a sense of community. Moving into the public-health realm, from 2003 to 2007 he served as chairman of Barts and London NHS Trust and deputy chairman of the Institute of Cancer Research. From 2010 to 2014 he was a board member of Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust, where he led a campaign to raise £4.5 million for a new cancer centre. He was particularly proud of his time as chairman of the British Library (1996-2001), where he presided over the opening, after 30 years, of its controversial new red-brick home in Euston Road. 'There were 1,000 legal suits between the library authorities and the contractors, so sorting all that out was quite a business,' he recalled. 'Now it's one of the best research libraries in the world and memories of the old days have gone. It was very satisfying.' From 2002 Ashworth was president of the Council for Assisting Refugee Academics, during a time when, as he explained in an article in 2008, it faced huge demands to help academics fleeing Iraq – 'where the university system has been all but destroyed and nearly 300 academics have been assassinated since 2003'. A keen sailor at his home in Wivenhoe, Essex, Ashworth was actively involved in the Nottage Maritime Institute and the Wivenhoe Sailing Club, and he chaired the Wivenhoe Pub Company until 2020. He was knighted in 2008. In 1963 he married Ann Knight. She died in 1985, and in 1988 he married Auriol Stevens. She survives him with three daughters and a son from his first marriage and three stepchildren. Sir John Ashworth, born November 27 1938, died March 3 2025 Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. 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Yahoo
01-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Ukrainian woman, 21, living in Colchester recounts terrifying war on anniversary
UKRANIAN refugees and their Colchester host families marked the third anniversary of Russia's invasion with over 320 Ukrainians being welcomed Colchester residents were invited to gather at the Old Library of the Town Hall to mark February 24, 2022, when Russia launched the largest and deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two. Liudmyla Korokhivska, 21, was just 18 when the war broke out. She said that in Ternopil, in the west of Ukraine, the war had "already been going on for eight years' following Russia's invasion of Crimea in 2014. Liudmyla said that as her father is in the military and her mother is a key worker that she had to go to Poland to work for three months as 'there was no money' due to the war effort. Liudmyla was given a host family in Hadleigh, describing her host 'as an older mum' who gave her 'everything', including clothes and hygiene products as she was only able to bring a suitcase of belongings. Help - Liudmyla said that her host helped her with her documents, medication, and her stress (Image: Newsquest) After four months, Liudmyla moved to accommodation at Essex University, and is now in her second year of studying AI. She says she struggled because her sister, 13, remains in Ukraine and could not come with her because Liudmyla is a student without stable accommodation. She added: 'I know that a lot of Ukrainians are dealing with depression. 'We need support, and we have it as the University of Essex has provided us with this." Response - Host Andrew Neill said schools, hospitals, and businesses have all opened their arms in Colchester (Image: Newsquest) Andrew Neill, 57, from Lexden, has hosted refugees before from Sudan, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and the Congo, so he knew when the war broke out that he could take a family. Andrew said that of the family of six he hosted, the two girls, now aged six and 12, came to the UK without any English, but now speak English and Ukrainian "with a very Essex accent'. He added: 'The fact that Colchester as a city has been willing to open its doors to so many from Ukraine has made it easier for us to host."
