THE driver of a car in which a South Bucks girl was killed in a crash in Hawaii has been jailed for five years, an inquest heard.
Claire Breasley, 27, of Garratts Way, Downley, was working as a photographer on a cruise ship and had taken a night ashore on the Hawaiian island of Maui when the accident happened in April last year.
Three other crew members from the ship were killed in the accident, with only the front seat passenger and the driver emerging from the wreckage alive. The driver Davut Duman from Turkey was imprisoned for five years in the USA after being convicted of negligent homicide.
Coroner's officer Geraldine Trickett was forced to rely on details supplied by the Hawaiian authorities when describing the accident at the inquest into Claire's death in High Wycombe on Tuesday.
She told how the driver of the green Oldsmobile lost control of the vehicle as it was approaching a left-hand bend and hit two coconut trees. It then overturned and came to rest on its roof.
Two of the rear seat passengers were found on a nearby green and both of them died immediately.
Another man died at the scene and Miss Breasley was rushed to hospital where she later died from multiple injuries, the inquest heard.
Claire, a former pupil of the Lady Verney High School in High Wycombe, had left England in February of last year to work on the ship which was owned by Royal Caribbean and had worked for the company for four years.
Recording a verdict of accidental death, coroner Richard Hulett said that the driver of the vehicle had obviously driven very badly. He added: "Rather ironically, he and the front seat passenger came out of it very lightly while those in the back lost their lives."
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