Son watched in horror as his father crashed

TRAGEDY . . . Graham Lyne

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AN inquest heard the harrowing account of an off-duty police motorcyclist’s son who watched helplessly as his dad lost his life after a split-second lapse of concentration.

Detective Sergeant Graham Howard Lyne (47), of Chadderton, died in April 2011 after colliding with a Vauxhall Corsa on the winding Holmfirth Road, a notorious accident blackspot.

The father-of-two suffered serious head injuries despite his helmet.

Det Sgt Lyne had had been riding his Ducati motorbike; his son a Suzuki. The pair headed over the Woodhead Pass towards Saddleworth on to the A635.

Mr Lyne was riding in front of his son when he approached the rear of a box van and was looking down its nearside.

In a statement read to the court his son Joe, a soldier, said: “Dad was looking on the nearside of the van. He then moved down the middle of the back of the van and out for the overtake. At that point I saw the car coming towards him. From dad’s position he couldn’t see it and had no way of knowing it was there. I was sounding my horn and shouting but he couldn’t hear me. He was in the outside lane and had committed to the overtake.”

By the time the soldier could run to his dad, he was “already gone.”

Gordon Schofield, who was driving the Corsa with his partner Pauline Latham, from Greenfield, described how the bikers suddenly emerged from behind the van.

“There was space to get through between myself and the box van — if the bike hadn’t accelerated he would have made it. I think he came out too wide,” he said. Miss Latham added: “It all happened in a split second — the bike came from nowhere.”

Coroner Mr Simon Nelson told Sgt Lyne’s wife Andrea: “I have no doubt that he would have been an exemplary officer and the fact that both he and your son served our country speaks volumes.

“I believe Mr Lyne would not have known of the approach of the Corsa — and that split-second lapse cost him his life.”

Police investigators found that none of the vehicles had been speeding. The coroner recorded a verdict of misadventure.








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