Leicester City helicopter crash ruled an accident at jury inquest

A helicopter crash in which five people were killed at Leicester City’s King Power Stadium was an accident, an inquest jury has concluded.

The football club’s chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, fellow passengers Kaveporn Punpare and Nusara Suknamai, pilot Eric Swaffer and Mr Swaffer’s partner Izabela Roza Lechowicz all died in the crash on 27 October 2018.

On Tuesday, jurors delivered their conclusion to coroner Prof Catherine Mason, stating they found the helicopter “had all its appropriate airworthiness and maintenance certificates”.

They also found Mr Swaffer had taken “all the appropriate actions available to him to try to regain control of the helicopter”.

Pictures of the five victims were put on a screen in the court while the conclusion was read.

Prof Mason said: “This huge loss will be borne by their families for the rest of their lives, a loss that is also felt by the community of Leicester.

“To the families, I would say it’s been a long journey to get the answers the families wanted as to how your loved ones came to their death. I hope through this inquest you have had a voice.”

As the conclusion was delivered, Prof Mason said she would “seriously consider” issuing a prevention of future deaths report “in the coming weeks”, but would await advice from industry bodies.

She also praised emergency service workers who responded.

“From what I have heard in evidence and indeed saw with my own eyes in part… is that large numbers of extremely brave men and women selflessly strived to deal with the aftermath of this crash,” Prof Mason added.

The coroner had previously instructed the jury that its conclusions into where, when and how the five came to die could not legally dispute the findings of the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB).

A final report, published by the AAIB in September 2023, said the Leonardo AW169 helicopter’s tail rotor bearing seized, which in turn caused the crash.

The AAIB said the crash was “inevitable” after a sequence of mechanical failures, and ruled out drone involvement and pilot error.

The coroner also told the jury the identities of the deceased and the medical cause of their deaths were not in dispute.

Pathologist Dr Michael Biggs, who carried out post-mortem examinations on each of the five who died, told the inquest previously that Ms Lechowicz died from injuries sustained from the impact of the crash.

He added the other four people on board would have died “quite rapidly” from smoke inhalation from the fire that quickly broke out after the helicopter crashed outside the stadium, following the club’s 1-1 draw with West Ham United.

Philip Shepherd KC delivered a statement outside Leicester City Hall, following the inquest conclusion, on behalf of the late chairman’s son Aiyawatt “Top” Srivaddhanaprabha, who is the current club chairman.

It said: “My family are thankful to senior coroner Mason for her inquest which has shone a spotlight on what happened on the 27th of October 2018.

“As leader of our family, a caring and devoted husband, father, and grandfather, we feel my father’s loss every day. A one-of-a-kind, an investor in dreams, as one witness said.

“It’s impossible to put my father into words. Thank you Leicester for your outpouring of support. We miss him and feel his loss every day.”