Couple died of injuries in M1 crash, inquest finds

A young Sheffield couple with "the rest of their lives to look forward to" died in a high-speed collision on the M1 on the way home from a meal, an inquest has heard.

Umar Akhbar, 23, was driving at speed on 13 November with Aiza Nageen, 24, in the front passenger seat when he lost control of the car near Barnsley and veered across three lanes of the motorway and the hard shoulder before hitting a tree, the inquest in Sheffield heard.

Assistant Sheffield coroner Hannah Berry ruled the couple's deaths were due to injuries caused in the collision.

In a tribute, Nageen's sister Aisha spoke of her close bond with her sister, saying she was "one in a million" and "remarkably wise beyond her years".

Victoria Brock, a forensic collision investigator who attended the crash scene, told the inquest at Sheffield's Medico-Legal Centre that motorway cameras showed the grey BMW 335D in which the couple were travelling had passed an HGV just before the Hoyland sliproad of the M1.

The BMW, being driven from Leeds, was seen to lose directional control immediately before the collision, with the HGV driver stopping and calling 999 when he saw the BMW leave the road, she said.

While neither the forensic investigation nor South Yorkshire Police could determine the BMW's exact speed, the court heard it was certainly in excess of the speed limit, and Brock added that "extreme damage" to the car also indicated a high-speed collision.

Brock and Det Con Michael Walker told the inquest there was no standing water on the road, which was in good condition.

Meanwhile, the coroner said the toxicology report showed no evidence of alcohol in either person's system, with mobile phone use also ruled out.

Berry told the court that an incorrectly fitted nearside wheel was also "exacerbated by the speed of the car", while "damp conditions combined with the speed of the vehicle caused it to travel across the road and it lost directional control".

Knee and ankle pain Akhbar was suffering at the time due to a football injury could also not be ruled out as a contributory factor as he had spoken to his GP that week about the pain, although this was not identified in the post-mortem examination, the coroner said.

Akhbar and Nageen both suffered multiple serious injuries in the crash and were pronounced dead shortly after the emergency services arrived, Berry said.

During the inquest, Gul Akhbar told the court that his nephew, who was a sales assistant from Burngreave, was an "athletic and sporty young man" and a "fantastic lad" who loved football.

He said the young couple's death was "a tragic, devastating loss to the families of two young people with their whole futures ahead of them".

Aisha Nageen said her sister, the youngest of three, was working as an admin clerk after studying nursing at university, a profession which was "the natural choice for her caring nature," she explained.

She added that her sister was "quiet but not shy", "funny and full of life" and "both academic and sporty", as well as "exceptionally loyal and selfless" with an adventurous side.

"She was one in a million. Deeply-loved with so much life ahead of her, she still had so much love to give," Aisha Nageen said.

Concluding that the couple had died from their injuries, Berry told the families she was "very, very sorry these two young people had died too early".

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