A boyfriend heard his girlfriend’s harrowing screams as she was killed in a horrific car crash while speaking to him on a hands-free mobile, an inquest has heard.
Chloe Lloyd, 28, was driving home with her eight-year-old daughter Lexi on January 3 when her Vauxhall Astra left the A35 and crashed into a tree.
At the time of the incident, Ms Lloyd, a barber who had visited her parents, was using a hands-free device to talk to her partner Domenico Gugliemucci.
Hearing her screams as her car smashed into a tree near Poole, Dorset, Mr Gugliemucci called her mother who then conducted a search for the 28-year-old.
An inquest in Bournemouth heard that Ms Lloyd’s lifeless body was found at the scene of the accident and Lexi was found with serious injuries.
Ms Lloyd was pronounced dead on the A35, while Lexi underwent emergency treatment in hospital. She is living with her grandparents.
Chloe Lloyd, 28, was driving home with her eight-year-old daughter Lexi when her Vauxhall Astra left the A35 and crashed into a tree (pictured with Domenico Gugliemucci)
A post mortem examination show Ms Lloyd, who held a driving licence for 11 years and had no endorsements, died from multiple injures.
Subsequent tests showed that she had no alcohol or drugs in her system, and did not have any underlying health condition.
Reading out Mr Gugliemucci’s statement at the Bournemouth inquest, coroner Rachael Griffin said: ‘Chloe said words to the effect of “how are you, and you sound tired?” He replied he was fine and asked her if she was driving back from her mum’s?
‘At which point he heard a scream from Chloe and then other distorted sounds.
‘Then it went quiet, with the only sound the indicators.’
An inquest in Bournemouth heard that Ms Lloyd’s lifeless body was found at the scene of the accident, while her daughter Lexi was seriously injured
The inquest heard that Ms Lloyd had spent the day with her mother, Emma, and daughter before returning for a meal with her father, Martyn.
She set off to drive home around 8.30pm. Around 15 minutes later her parents received the call from Mr Gugliemucci.
At the inquest, Mrs Lloyd’s statement was read out, saying: ‘After the meal Chloe and her father were messing about and joking with one another, as they usually did.
‘She was happy and content and making plans for the future.’
It is unknown why the Vauxhall Astra Ms Lloyd was driving veered off the A35
A police investigation confirmed the car she was driving had no mechanical defects and that all four tyres were in a serviceable condition.
Officers also found Ms Lloyd’s mobile phone in her handbag inside the car, connected to her hands-free system via bluetooth.
Witness statements from other drivers on the A35 conformed that no other vehicles were involved in the collision and that Ms Lloyd’s car just lost control, spun around and then careered off the carriageway and crashed into the tree.
Road conditions were good and police found no evidence of any object in the carriageway or even any animal in or by the side of the road.
Ms Griffin said: ‘I’m satisfied from all the evidence before me that the cause of her death is as the result of injuries that Miss Lloyd sustained in a road traffic collision. Following a thorough investigation by Dorset Police they did not find any reason why Miss Floyd’s vehicle left the carriageway that day.
‘She was not driving at excessive speed. There is no physical evidence to account for why her vehicle left the carriageway that day. I know that Chloe was on the phone, but it is clear she was acting within the law and using a hands-free device to make that call.
‘That phone call was very short, her phone was found within her bag – so there was no evidence to suggest she had handled that telephone to make a call.
‘On that phone call she did not appear distracted, there’s no evidence from her partner on that phone call that her daughter in the car made any noise or any sound that distracted her. I do not believe she was distracted by her daughter at all.
‘There was no indication to me, because she was on the phone at the time of her death, that she fell asleep, which caused her vehicle to leave the road. Sadly the only person who may be able to assist me as to why that vehicle left that road that day would be Ms Lloyd herself – and tragically, she is not here to tell me that.’