The family of a young woman who died in a car crash in Waldershare did not find out about her death until much later because her friends fled the scene, an inquest heard.

The inquest into the death of Emma Mary Willis, 23, of Larch Road, Elvington, was held at Canterbury Crown Court on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Miss Willis was killed instantly when the car she was travelling in crashed into a tree in Sandwich Road, Waldershare, in the early hours of Saturday, August 17, 2013.

The driver of the vehicle, Tobbie Coleman, of Ottowa Way, Dover, had never taken a driving lesson, had no licence or insurance and he later fled along with three other friends.

In July last year he was found guilty of death by driving carelessly and sentenced to 15 months in prison.

Miss Willis had met friends at a home in Beech Drive, Elvington, that evening after finishing work at a factory. Later Charlie Morgan, who owned the blue Vauxhall Corsa which crashed, received a text message from Galina Dodd, 45, of St John’s Road, Elvington, asking to give her a lift to the shop to buy more alcohol.

Mr Morgan told the inquest he gave Mr Coleman “full permission” to drive his car, despite knowing he didn’t have a licence.

Kyle Thatcher, Hannah Ross and Emma Willis were passengers.

Mr Morgan then drove Ms Dodd’s red Corsa, and they were followed by another friend Ryan Redmell who drove a green Corsa with Damien Lee to the Esso garage and McDonald’s in Whitfield.

The three cars were in convoy to the garage and CCTV shown in court saw them leave green car first, followed by red and then blue - the car which crashed.

It was suggested a series of overtaking resulted in Mr Coleman in the blue Vauxhall Corsa being at the front of the convoy when the accident happened but this was denied by the drivers.

Statements from passengers Miss Ross, Mr Lee and Ms Dodd also suggested this, but when questioned the others said they could not remember if there had been any overtaking.

Conflicting stories and a reluctance to admit overtaking had taken place that led coroner Alan Blunsdon to believe it was false evidence.

At around 2am, the blue car started to spin, crashed into a tree and ended up on its roof in a field 11 metres from the road.

Driver Mr Coleman and passenger Miss Ross were able to get out of the vehicle but both Miss Willis and Mr Thatcher were trapped.

Andrew Shaw, a paramedic from SECAmb said he was on the scene at 2.23am.

Pathologist Dr Peter Jurreat said that Miss Willis would have died instantly, conducting the postmortem four days later.

He said she had multiple serious injuries, which would have had “an immediate fatal conclusion.”

Mr Thatcher was airlifted to King’s College Hospital and was in a critical condition. He had to have a false hip, metal plates in his pelvis, and his left arm re-built and is still undergoing operations.

After the crash, both Mr Coleman and Miss Ross fled the scene and got into Ms Dodd’s car who drove them back to her house to get cleaned up.

““The behaviour of those who left the scene, which could have only been for their own self interest, and left before arrival of the emergency services, was in my judgement an insult to the memory of Emma.” - Mr Blunsdon

Miss Ross claimed she was forced to leave by Ms Dodd but in a statement Ms Dodd said the injured passenger had pleaded with her to go. They left before any emergency services had reached the scene.

Mr Redmell, who was driving the green Corsa, also fled as he had no licence or insurance for his vehicle and “panicked”.

Mr Morgan and Mr Lee stayed to help.

The inquest heard it wasn’t until 3pm the next day that Mr Coleman handed himself in to police.

Mr Coleman said the crash happened because of his lack of experience as a driver and claimed he was not overtaking at the moment of the crash.

He said: “I tapped the brakes and got a response but not aggressive, so I did it again more aggressively and it sent me snaking. I couldn’t regain control.”

The inquest later heard him admit that there had been overtaking between the garage and the site of the accident.

PC David Burley, from the forensic collision investigation unit, said there was nothing to suggest he was driving at excess speed at the bend where the crash happened but marks on the road did suggest he had been overtaking in the wrong lane at the time of losing control.

Mr Coleman said: “I wanted to say I’m seriously sorry to the family.”

There were no traces of alcohol in Mr Coleman’s system after the accident but there was evidence of smoking cannabis.

Coroner Mr Blunsdon recorded a narrative conclusion verdict. He said: “The behaviour of those who left the scene which could have only been for their own self interest and left before arrival of the emergency services was in my judgement an insult to the memory of Emma.

“They pretended in court they were close friends of Emma, in my judgement they were nothing of the sort by their behaviour.

“They have given false evidence and added to the distress of the family.”