Family of Sittingbourne teen Cavan Scott who died after being killed in crash in Lower Road, Teynham left with ‘unanswered questions’
The mum of a cyclist left for dead by a "dangerous and aggressive[1]" driver says she still has "unanswered questions" more than three years after his death. Speaking to KentOnline at the conclusion of an inquest into the death of her "beautiful boy", Cavan Scott, Diana Boswell said she will "never find closure" with significant details around his passing still not coming to light.
The 19-year-old, from Sittingbourne, died after George Ivers' black VW Polo hit him in Lower Road, Teynham, around 1.10pm on Monday, May 2, 2022. Ivers, 22, was jailed[2] for 15 months after admitting to perverting the course of justice and three counts of dangerous driving in June.
But Maidstone Crown Court heard how the father-of-two did not face any charges related to the young cyclist's death, due to a lack of evidence. Instead, the charges related to Ivers driving the badly damaged vehicle after the crash, and two other separate dangerous driving cases which came to light after the police confiscated his phone. A full inquest hearing into Cavan's death took place at Oakwood House in Maidstone on Thursday (September 11) - just two weeks before the football enthusiast should have been celebrating his 22nd birthday - where more details emerged of the moments before his death.
Forensic investigator Kirsten Heath told the court that while the evidence from the scene suggested Cavan had been hit by Iver's car, she could not be "certain of what happened in seconds" before the collision.
Footage showed both Ivers and Cavan travelling towards each other before the crash near the Bax railway crossing[3].
The cyclist had been riding towards Sittingbourne wearing all dark clothing without any other lights except the reflectors on the pedals. He had been returning home after leaving a friend's house just outside Faversham around midnight. Meanwhile, Ivers was seen on different CCTV 330 metres before the scene of the tragedy heading towards Teynham.
He was heading to the village to drop off one of the passengers, Alfie Conan, at their home after a trip to McDonald's in Bobbing.
But what then happened during the crash is unknown to the police. Mrs Heath said: "I am satisfied that the Volkswagen was travelling east [towards Teynham] and Mr Scott was travelling west [towards Sittingbourne]. "The physical evidence puts both Cavan and Ivers on the right side of the road at the point of impact.
"But what happened in the seconds before the accident, I cannot be sure of because there is not the evidence."
The detective explained how the car's passenger side bumper and lights, alongside the windscreen, were all damaged.
There was also green paint indented onto the chassis of the vehicle. Part of the number plate was also left at the scene, as well as McDonald's wrappings - but whether these food items belonged to Ivers and his passengers is not known.. The court also heard from PC Chris Oliver-Jones.
He told how a Southeastern camera should have captured the collision, but it had not been working that night. Ivers and his three passengers stopped following the crash.
The inquest heard all three were later arrested and gave differing accounts during their interviews. However, one of the passengers told the police that they had checked Cavan's pulse and had said "he had gone".
However, Coroner Katrina Hepburn said the postmortem report showed the head injury was "completely unsurvivable", and Ivers or the passengers would not have been able to save his life.
She found that the cause of death had been from a "head injury" following a "road traffic accident". Ms Hepburn concluded: "It is impossible for me to give any form of conclusion about where exactly on the carriageway the car and the bike met and how the impact came to pass. "Cavan was struck by a motor vehicle and sustained a fatal head injury.
"This has been a case on my desk for a long time, and I am glad it has reached a resolution from the coroner's point of view."
After leaving the scene, the inquest heard, Ivers dropped off Mr Conan and then drove back past the scene, travelling for 26 miles and dropping off his friends in the process. He then dumped the car in Sheerness and took any identification or items which could link him to the vehicle out of the car. A member of the public first raised the alarm at 1.54am.
Ivers was arrested just after 5.50am at his girlfriend's house in Medway on the same day.
Picture: Ricky Bain
This was after the fragment of the number plate was found, and Mr Conan's aunt phoned the police.
A drug test revealed he had both cocaine and THC - a byproduct of cannabis - in his system. Ivers said that he had taken the drug after the collision, and police could not prove if he was under the influence of drugs at the point of the impact. Meanwhile, the three other passengers were arrested and interviewed in the days after.
They were not charged and refused to give the police statements. Following the inquest, Mrs Boswell told KentOnline that she wants to see changes to the law around witnesses providing information following a crash.
She said: "We will never have closure. There will always be unanswered questions.
"There were several people who know the truth who chose not to cooperate, and unfortunately, the one who would have told everyone the truth is sadly not with us anymore, our boy Cav.
"To have true answers around what happened that night will never be possible because the driver and the passengers chose not to fully cooperate. "I think the law needs to be changed against leaving the scene and other offences. I won't stop fighting for this."
Mrs Boswell also says going through the courts for almost three years has been "emotionally overwhelming and draining" as she fought "for justice" for her football-mad son, who had started working as a recycling operative just days before the crash. "It sickens me to my stomach that he was left there... She said: "Our whole lives have been ripped apart.
We have suffered and still continue to suffer every single day, whilst everyone goes on with their lives, yet our Cav can have none of this.
"It sickens me to my stomach that he was left there; he was a human being." Cavan joined a local team called Woodcoombe FC, where he played many matches and tournaments. He also had a love for bikes, cars, films and music.
Mrs Boswell described him as a "handsome, funny, loving, beautiful boy" son, step-son, grandson, brother, nephew and cousin.
References
- ^ dangerous and aggressive (www.kentonline.co.uk)
- ^ jailed (www.kentonline.co.uk)
- ^ Bax railway crossing (www.kentonline.co.uk)