Inquiry opens into charity hero’s crash death

The inquest has opened into the death of a military hero involved in a horror road smash.
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Police tape

David Byrne was fatally injured when his car was in collision with a lorry at the East Lancs Road’s junction with Atherleigh Way in Leigh on January 21.

The Warrington 58-year-old’s injured wife Julie, 56, was trapped in the wreckage for an hour as firefighters battled to free them.

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Trucker Florin Solomon was arrested and appeared at Wigan and Leigh Magistrates’ Court accused of causing death and serious injury by driving a Scania HGV dangerously. The Worcester 28-year-old was remanded in custody until he appears before a Bolton judge on February 19.

In 2003 Mr Byrne, who at the time was serving with the Army in Germany, was awarded the MBE for services to charity. He had played a major role in helping children affected by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

The brief Bolton coroner’s court hearing was adjourned pending the conclusion of criminal proceedings.

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