Boy, 15, who was killed when his e-bike crashed into an ambulance whereas being adopted by police was carrying nearly £700 price of hashish, inquest hears

A 15-year-old boy who was killed as he was riding an e-bike while being followed by a police patrol car had been smoking cannabis and was carrying almost £700 worth of drugs, an inquest heard today. 

Saul Cookson died after he rode his Sur-Ron e-bike through bollards onto a main road where he collided with an ambulance in Salford, Greater Manchester, in June 2023.

An inquest in Bolton heard today that Saul had cannabis in his pocket at the time of the crash and was a daily user.

His mother Emma Frendo tearfully told the hearing that Saul had been arrested ‘on a couple of occasions’ during a ‘turbulent time’ in his life but had wanted to go to college and learn a trade.

The teenager had been followed by a marked BMW X5 police patrol car along Lower Seedley Road which could not go through the bollards which led onto the main Langworthy Road where the collision with the ambulance occurred.

Coroner Mike Pemberton told the jury that it would need to consider whether there was a police pursuit on Saul and if ‘appropriate policies were being followed or any risk assessment made at the time’.

He told the eleven member jury: ‘You will need to consider whether any pursuit or following contributed to the collision.’

Saul’s mother Emma Frendo and his father Michael Cookson left the hearing as the jury were shown dashcam footage from the police patrol car and a montage of CCTV footage of Saul riding his e-bike through the bollards and colliding with the ambulance.

Footage from the ambulance showed the collision and Saul being knocked of his e-bike and falling onto the road.

The inquest was told that he was taken to Salford Royal Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival at the Accident and Emergency department.

Pathologist Usha Chandran said that Saul died from multiple traumatic injuries including fractures of two neck vertebrae causing compression of the spinal cord.

She said that toxicology tests showed low levels of cannabis in Saul’s blood which were below the UK legal limit for drug driving.

Dr Chandran said that cannabis could affect Saul’s cognition and reduce his co-ordination but it was ‘difficult’ to say whether it contributed to the cause of the accident.

Coroner Mike Pemberton told her: ‘I need to make a direct finding on the balance of probabilities as to whether there was a direct causative effect. I have no evidence on which I can base a safe finding that it had a direct effect.

‘There is evidence that Saul had taken some cannabis but it would be speculative what the effect on Saul would have been without knowledge of his ability to process it. He smoked it on a regular basis.

‘A low level may not have had a detrimental effect on his judgement.’

Toxicology expert Simon Elliott said that it could not be said when cannabis had been consumed on that day but the low level meant there was no causative effect on the death of the teenager.

Saul’s mother Emma Frendo wept as she told the inquest: ‘Every day he would smoke a lot but I did not like him doing it. He would not do it in front of me.’

Ms Frendo, who produced a montage of photographs of Saul to be displayed to the hearing, was comforted by Saul’s father Michael Cookson as her statement was read to the hearing by the coroner.

She said the football loving teenager was 6ft tall and wore size eleven trainers.

Ms Frendo said that he had been good at school and after his death, she had received his ‘fantastic’ GCSE results.

He had been good at maths and she considered him to be ‘my little genius’.

She said that during his teenage years he had been arrested ‘on a couple of occasions’ during a ‘turbulent time’ in his life but had wanted to go to college and learn a trade.

At the time of the accident, she said that he had been to see a friend and was on his way home on his e bike.

Questioned by the family’s lawyer Christian Weaver, she said that he knew the roads around the are very well because he had lived there all his life.

Constable Stephen Pennington of the Serious Road Collision Unit said he found several wraps of cannabis in Saul’s coat plus a food bag which was about one third full of cannabis.

Detective Constable David Millward, a police drugs expert, said the total value of the skunk and herbal cannabis found on Saul was £679.

The inquest was told that Saul’s mother was heard screaming at the side to the road at the scene of the collision.

Student paramedic Olivia Green was riding in the back of the ambulance driven by paramedic Laura Jones with fellow paramedic Aaron Fitzpatrick in the front seat.

Ms Green told the hearing in a statement that it was a hot summer’s day and the ambulance was returning to its base for a lunch break

She said: ‘We were travelling at under 30 mph and did not have blue lights on. I felt like something hit us and In thought we had hit the kerb. Laura said we had hit someone and jumped out.

‘A police officer started doing chest compressions and I was back and forth to the ambulance getting kit. There was screaming at the side and someone said it was the patient’s mother.’

‘I was really confused as to why a police officer was there as it had only just happened. He came out of nowhere. It was not a head on collision, it looked like he had hit the front bumper. We were on our way for lunch and the next thing , someone was lying on the floor. It was a shock.’

Student Fatoumatah Badji was a passenger in a car on the road and she said: ‘This guy just came out of a side street, hit the ambulance and fell backwards onto the floor. He was going very fast at the time and was on a black e bike.

‘He was lying on the side of the road and the bike was lying on the side. Two seconds later I saw a police officer running along the side of the road where the e bike had come from. He started doing CPR.’

Postman Shaidur Rahman told the inquest that he heard ‘the sound of an electric bike’ as he was doing his rounds.

‘There was an ambulance going along the road. It seemed to be going very slow. I saw the electric bike come through the bollards being ridden by a young male person wearing all black clothing . I can say he was travelling very fast through the bollards.

‘I think he intended to go straight across Langworthy Road and did not even think or contemplate that the ambulance would be there. he collided with the driver’s side of the ambulance. 

‘You could see the male being tossed through the air and landing on the opposite side of the road.’

The hearing will hear from the two police officers in the police patrol car when the inquest resumes tomorrow morning.