THE parents of crash victims Coz Powell and James Simmons asked why a verdict of unlawful killing had not been returned.

James, of Hillside Gardens, was a talented musician and former John Ray Infant and Junior School pupil who was studying for a diploma in music technology at The College, Braintree.

His parents, Michael and Gillian Simmons, said they had mixed feelings about the conclusion of the inquest.

Mr Simmons said: “It would have been nice to have it written down as it has almost left an open verdict.

“I went into it openminded but I don’t feel any sense of closure. It will be difficult to find and I don’t think it’s something words in a coroner’s court could supply. It’s more than just a fewwords, I can’t possibly explain it. It’s just another hurdle in a very long race.

“The past 13 months has been pretty much unbearable and I’m sure it will be the same for the next 13 months.

“The results don’t bring any comfort, they only confirm what we already knew.

“It's been like ripples of a pond touching the extended family. We can just learn to cope with it.”

Coz Powell, a former Hedingham School pupil of Greenfields, Gosfield, signed the organ donor register and donated his liver, pancreas and a kidney.

His parents, Gennie and Antony Powell, were also at the hearing.

She said: “It was really upsetting and quite painful to hear all three reports will show the same cause of death. I nearly came apart in court, I was shaking.

“We just wanted something affirmative to say it wasn’t Coz’s fault.

“We aren’t allowed to see the report signed either. We were together to sign his birth certificate and we wanted to be together to register his death as a final stage, but we can’t do that.”

Recalling memories of her son, Coz, Mrs Powell said: “We are just pushing forward and trying to do what he wanted to do, which has helped us.

“Coz was wonderful, from a different planet.

“He loved people and he loved life. He said he didn’t want to grow old, he wanted to go out like a blaze of glory – like a hero. And he did – he stopped it happening to someone else.”

An Essex County Council spokesman said coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray had referred the Times to an inquest involving Sophie Wilkinson, from Manchester, who crashed into the driver of a recovery vehicle.

The recovery driver, Denis Livesley, died after the incident in 2012 and a coroner found he had been unlawfully killed.

But High Court judges later overturned this finding and stated Mr Livesley had died as a result of an accident.

Verdicts of unlawful killing were only appropriate for cases where manslaughter or infanticide is suspected, but not for road accidents.

Inquests were fact-finding exercises, not an exercise in apportioning blame, the High Court heard.