A 27-year-old woman was over the limit when she crashed her car into a tree, killing herself and a teenage passenger, an inquest has heard.
The hearing was told that Lucy Leadbeater, 27, was also uninsured and said to be driving “dangerously” before she crashed in the village of Denne Hill, Kent, in September 2018.
Both Ms Leadbeater and Casey Hood, 18, the passenger killed in the crash, were not wearing seatbelts when they crashed and suffered traumatic head injuries.
Casey’s mother Natalie Hood, 47, was found dead from a drug overdose two days later after posting on Facebook: “I just want my little girl back.”
An inquest into her death was opened last month, during which it emerged that she died from morphine toxicity.
Casey’s mother Natalie Hood posted a heartbreaking message on Facebook before she was found dead two days after the crash (SWNS)
Ms Leadbeater’s Toyota Yaris had been followed by police to a motorway lay-by, after it was spotted driving erratically by officers near Canterbury police station.
A police van pulled into the lay-by beside the Toyota Yaris and an officer spoke briefly with Ms Leadbeater, who drove off mid-conversation.
Officers followed and came across the wreckage of the car on its side in Denne Hill, at about 3.50am on 14 September 2018.
Tests later revealed Ms Leadbeater, who had been drinking with friends, had 87 milligrams of alcohol per 100ml of blood in her system, above the legal limit of 80.
Police crash investigators concluded she had lost control on a bend before hitting a tree.
Assistant coroner Scott Matthewson concluded that both Casey Hood and Ms Leadbeater had died in a road traffic accident.
He said: “It is obvious from the evidence that Lucy was substantially intoxicated.
“We will never know why she drove off from the lay-by because I cannot say, on the balance of probabilities, that she was aware of the police presence.”
