Toller Lane crash victim's inquest set for next week

Murtza Chaudhry, 21, and passengers Arbaaz Hussain, 21, Zeeshan Khalid, 20 and Tayyab Siddique, 22, all died when their car hit a tree on Toller Lane in 2018.

Senior Coroner Martin Fleming will lead the remote hearing held by Bradford Coroners Court from Monday, September 13. It is scheduled to last up to five days. The inquest will also go ahead without a jury.

Murza Chaudhry was driving a grey BMW at speed down Bingley Road just after 5.30am on Thursday, August 2, 2018, with Arbaaz Hussain in the front passenger seat, Tayyab Siddique in the rear off-side passenger seat, and Zeeshan Khalid in the near-side passenger seat.

Mr Chaudhry crashed following a 34-second pursuit with police, a previous hearing has been told.

Officers were concerned about the manner in which the BMW, which failed to stop for police, was being driven on Stony Lane.

An Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation into the crash concluded in April 2019.

Floral tributes left at the scene of the Toller Lane crash

The final report is not due to be made public until the inquests of the four men are concluded.

All four men were pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics, their deaths sending shockwaves around the community and city.

Pictures, flowers, boxing gloves and balloons were pinned to the tree.

More than 10,000 people gathered for the four men's funeral service in Scotchman Road, Bradford, where the Imam delivered a rousing speech.

He said: “These young people, they had their whole life ahead. We can see what one moment of madness can do.

"When are we going to realise, it’s life, the way they live it, we’ll keep losing them. As a community, we should step up - the truth is, we’ve failed.”

The cause of death for all four men was found to be multiple injuries and a road traffic collision.

Driver Murza Chaudhry, 21, was born in Bradford, and died at 5.51am on August 2, 2018. He was identified through fingerprint retrieval.

Arbaaz Hussain, also 21 and born in Bradford, died at 5.55am and was also identified through fingerprint retrieval.

Tayyab Siddique, 22, born in Greenwich, London, died at 5.48am, and was identified by uncle Mohammed Ifan Rafiq by photographic evidence.

Zeeshan Khalid, 20, born in Bradford, died at 6.05am, and was identified by his father Khalid Hussain by photographic evidence.

Inquests are held to ascertain what happened in an incident and why it happened.

An inquest can happen when someone dies suddenly at home from natural causes, as well to investigate how someone died as a result of an accident, or other causes.

The Coroner needs to establish through their investigations who the deceased person was, when they died, where they died and how they died.

A coroner can call witnesses to give evidence or statements in the course of their investigations.

Inquests are not usually heard in front of a jury; however there are cases in which it is mandatory.