A woman who sped away from a routine police stop died after crashing her new BMW into a parked car, an inquest has heard.
20-year-old Xena Georgiou, from Wythenshawe, was rushed to hospital following a police pursuit on December 3, 2023, but later died of her injuries at Manchester Royal Infirmary on December 12.
An inquest yesterday at South Manchester Coroners Court heard Xena had been riding with ‘close friend’ Yasmin Tanker, who sat in the passenger seat, and Jake Bosquet, who was a friend of Tanker.
Both suffered ‘significant injuries’ in the crash, but Bosquet left in hospital for two weeks and suffering ‘memory loss’, an inquest jury was told.
The inquest heard Xena was the driver of a black BMW One Series that she had recently bought at a police auction with the help of her mother.
Xena’s mother Catherine was called as a witness, and cried, recalling her ‘outgoing, kind, funny, kind, loving, very generous’ daughter as someone who would ‘help people even though she was struggling.’
Bodycam and dashcam footage recorded on the evening of December 3 showed GMP officers Nathan Lowe and PC Stephan Bielizna carrying out the traffic stop on Washway Road in Sale.
They had been patrolling the area and spotted the car Xena was driving had no insurance and was registered outside of Manchester.
Footage showed ‘around five minutes’ of conversation, in which Xena gave the insurance details of her mother, who had placed temporary insurance coverage on the vehicle in the past.
PC Lowe told the court that after attempting to find the details on the police’s national system, he asked Xena to do a fingerprint scan as ‘she did not look’ like a woman in her 40s.
However, after a short while, the bodycam footage showed Xena suddenly driving off. A pursuit then began, with an officer heard saying: ‘What’s she doing?’
Police followed the BMW, at some points topping speeds of ’75mph’ in a bid to catch up to Xena’s car, which soon lost control on a bend on Marsland Road at around 8.30 pm, colliding with a parked car.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct is investigating the circumstances around Xena’s death. Members of her family were sitting in court.
The court heard how Xena had only had the car for a week after her mother had bought it for her from a police auction in Doncaster – and mum Catherine didn’t want Xena to drive the car until it had parts replaced on December 4.
But Xena had persuaded her mum to let her drive the car – and reminded her mum she had been given money for insurance. But mum Catherine only found out that Xena didn’t until six months after the incident.
An emotional Catherine said: ‘When I sent the £180, I just assumed that she had done it.’
Catherine added that the last time she saw Xena was during a Facetime one hour before the crash, where she was eating takeaway with her friend Yasmin.
The inquest was led by assistant coroner Adrian Farrow and it is expected to be heard over four days to give the jury time to reflect on the evidence.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
