Jury rules man died ‘accidentally’ in high-speed police chase hours after killing his girlfriend

Ben Crosby, 46, left his last will and testament “in a prominent position” on the kitchen table of his home in Beverley after stabbing to death 37-year-old Hull University physics student Becci Rees-Hughes in the early hours of July 25 2022.

The sports massage therapist rang his parents to tell them what he’d done and they rushed to his house on Samman Road in the town, discovering Becci’s body slumped on a sofa inside.

Crosby said his farewells to his parents before driving off in his VW Polo, sparking a major hunt involving numerous police cars and four armed response vehicles.

Ben Crosby who died in a road traffic collision shortly after his partner’s body was found

Dashcam footage from one of the police vehicles, played to the jury, showed how a marked car tried but failed to block Crosby’s VW Polo in the centre of Hornsea, before he sped away in the direction of Seaton on the A1035, with officers in pursuit.

Crosby was estimated to be driving at a speed of up to 84mph when he cut the corner of a bend and drove into a van.

The jury, sitting at Hull Coroner’s Court, asked to see the footage, which captured the violent, split-second, impact two more times. They took over three hours to conclude by a majority of eight to two that Crosby died accidentally after he negotiated the bend “on the opposite carriageway and collided with a Ford Transit van”.

The van driver, an electrician on his way to work, was left with life-changing injuries.

Rebecca Rees-Hughes: A separate inquest last year found the 37-year-old had been unlawfully killed

The inquest was told there were no defects in the road, the vehicles were roadworthy and there were no issues of glare.

The van driver said in a statement it looked like Crosby “purposely turned onto my side of the road”. He said: “I assumed the vehicle would correct its path but it continued towards me”.

His account was backed by two police officers, one of whom stated that Crosby didn’t brake and seemed to deliberately ram the van coming in the opposite direction. Forensic collision investigator Nicholas Brady-Smith said while the van driver tried to take evasive measures “no such attempt was made by the Polo”.