Iain Daniels was instructed on behalf of the family of Lewis Johnson in the inquest into his death during a police pursuit.
Lewis Dean Johnson, died on 9 February 2016 as a result of a moped accident whilst being pursued by the Metropolitan Police. His pillion passenger was badly injured. Lewis was 18 when he died.
An inquest was opened in February 2016. However, his mother Ann Torpey has fought a 9-year battle to properly understand the complete circumstances in which her son came to his death. This included waiting for a detailed investigation by the IPCC (as it was), successfully judicially reviewing a CPS decision not to charge the principal officer, the prosecution of the principal officer and misconduct procedures involving a number of officers, culminating with her challenging the Coroner’s decision not to resume this inquest, under threat of a judicial review .
On 22 May 2025, following a 4-week inquest at Bow Coroner’s Court London, a jury returned a narrative which concluded that, at times during the pursuit, the police vehicle had driven too close to Lewis’s moped, putting additional pressure on Lewis and as a result affecting his decision making. They found that the driver of the police vehicle was not qualified to pursue a motorcycle and as a result the pursuit was not permitted.
The jury heard evidence that neither the driver of the police car, nor the radio operator had read the relevant pursuit policies, and they were not aware that they were not permitted by these policies to pursue motorcycles. The jury found that the pursuit of Lewis’s moped took place because of a lack of knowledge of police pursuit policies, not only on the part of the driver and radio operator of the police vehicle, but also by the police control room staff. This failure was, in part, due to the Metropolitan Police not implementing, disseminating and training relevant staff on these policies effectively.
Lewis’s collided with a traffic light pole at Clapton Common A107, near the junction with Castlewood Road, as a result of a box van moving to the nearside of the road. The van moved in response to the presence of the police vehicle on its offside, forcing the moped on to the pavement and into the traffic light. The jury found that pursuing police car had caused other road users to pull to the side of the road in a similar way prior to the accident. They heard evidence of a similar incident earlier in the pursuit when another vehicle had moved towards its nearside due to the presence of the pursuing police car, causing the moped to mount the pavement.
Lewis had been a talented footballer, playing as a schoolboy for Crystal Palace FC youth academy. The time that this inquest has taken to be resolved and the numerous obstacles placed in her way, has caused Lewis’s mother Ann and his family considerable additional distress.
The Senior Coroner issued Prevention of Future Deaths reports to both the Metropolitan Police and the Independent Office for Police Conduct.
Counsel was instructed by Kim Vernal at Taylor Rose, and Andre Clovis at Tuckers Criminal Solicitors.
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