Inquest into death of ‘gentle and kind’ dad from Tarporley

Matthew Clarke, a much-loved dad, husband, and friend, was 48 when he died on the M56 in January.

Matthew, known as Matt, had suffered with his mental health for a number of years.

Mr Clarke, from Tarporley, had been signed off work a few years ago due to ‘severe anxiety and depression symptoms’ and then decided to resign before being offered a new job by a long-term friend in 2021.

An inquest into his death held last Thursday at St James Business Centre heard how Mr Clarke’s mental health had begun to deteriorate again shortly before his death.

He was on medication but said his wife Sarah was his ‘protective factor’.

The coroner’s court was told how the day before Mr Clarke’s death, he had been involved in a work meeting where he was ‘extremely abrupt and defensive’ and had snapped.

The meeting had ended ‘very awkwardly’, and Mr Clarke’s boss was concerned about his behaviour.

Sarah had tried to persuade him to work from home the next day, January 20, but he insisted on going into the office.

After speaking to his boss, Mr Clarke, an e-commerce director, he left at 9am.

The court heard how Mr Clarke’s wife then rang him and found he was driving and upset. She talked to him and he seemed to have calmed down.

But when she called him back, it went straight to voicemail and Mr Clarke was not answering. She called a number of times to no avail so began to ‘fear the worse’.

She then saw there had been an accident on the M56 involving a grey BMW – a route that Mr Clarke used and a car that he had.

Soon after police were knocking at the door and the family was told the devastating news which ‘shattered their world’.

The inquest heard a statement from a witness who was driving behind Mr Clarke on the M56 near junction 14, Elton, at the time.

The witness said how they saw Mr Clarke’s BMW in the third lane before it started to veer off to the hard shoulder at speeds of 90mph.

Here, it went over an embankment – which acted like a launch pad- and flew into the trees.

The witness pulled over and immediately headed over to Mr Clarke where he saw the car had crashed through trees and a fence.

At the time of the incident, the motorway was closed with traffic stretching back as far as Warrington.

Next, the court heard a statement from a police constable who was the first to arrive at the scene.

He said that on arrival at 10.40am, he found a male.

The police constable remained with him until the ambulance team arrived and although Mr Clarke was not replying, he was acknowledging the officer.

Fire crews also had to cut the driver's door off so Mr Clarke could be extracted from the car.

Paramedics and members from the air ambulance crew arrived.

The motorway at the time of the crash

It was clear that Mr Clarke was ‘critically unwell,’ a pre-hospital doctor from the air ambulance crew said in a statement.

Mr Clarke ‘rapidly deteriorated’ at the scene and despite resuscitation efforts, he was sadly pronounced dead at around 12pm.

A collision investigation report heard how Mr Clarke’s car was inspected and there was no evidence of any sudden or prior failures that could have resulted in a loss of control. And the coroner’s court was told that there were clear conditions on the day and no problems with the road surface.

Area coroner for Cheshire Victoria Davies concluded Mr Clarke’s death as one of suicide.

The medical cause of death was concluded as haemorrhage due to a road traffic collision.

After offering her condolences to Mr Clarke’s family, Ms Davies said: “It is clear that Matthew Clarke was a much-loved father to three children and a husband and a friend.”

If you have been affected by the issues raised in this article, or you are struggling with your mental health, help is available.

Please call Samaritans for free on 116 123 or go to samaritans.org