Inquest into UK plane crash deaths

An inquest will open today into the deaths of three people who were killed when a light aircraft crashed beside one of Britain’s busiest rail lines.

The hearing in Stafford, which is expected to be adjourned to a later date, comes six days after the plane smashed through overhead power lines on the West Coast Mainline at nearby Colwich Junction.

Air accident investigators are attempting to establish the cause of the crash, which left wreckage scattered between two stretches of track and caused severe disruption to train services.

Pilot Alan Matthews, from Walsall, West Midlands, died along with passengers Nick O’Brien, 35, and his 29-year-old wife Emma.

Mr O’Brien was of Irish descent and worked as a site manager for Irish company Armoury Demolition, which is based in Birmingham.

The couple, from Shirley, Solihull, married last summer and had two young sons, aged 10 and 18 months.

Mr Matthews, 59, was a member of a flying club based at an airfield near Lichfield, Staffordshire, and was a work colleague of Mr O’Brien’s.