This is Kent --A DEAF teenager could hold the key to a mystery crash in Staplehurst that claimed two lives.
Nathalie Clare was a passenger in a red Vauxhall Vectra when it crashed into two cars.
Her mum Irene, 47, and driver Tunbridge Wells-born Brian Maitland, 63, both died at the scene in Cranbrook Road, Knox Bridge, on March 5 last year.
Miss Clare was seriously injured but has since recovered. It was while she was in hospital that she gave clues as to what happened on the evening.
The principal of her boarding school – Hamilton Lodge in Brighton – had come to visit her in King's College Hospital, London.
Graham Sheppard told an inquest on Wednesday: "Nathalie normally stays with us at Hamilton Lodge from Monday to Friday but our school nurse, Debbie Rowland, had diagnosed her with a virus on the Tuesday and we decided to send her home.
"Her mother Irene came to pick her up in a taxi and I later found out on their way home they had been in a tragic accident.
"I went to visit Nathalie in hospital and although I had no intention of asking her about the crash, she took me by surprise and started signing about it."
The court heard Nathalie, who also has learning difficulties, made the signs "Brian ill", "Mummy leaned over" and "crash".
Mr Sheppard believed Nathalie, from Coxheath near Maidstone, would have understood what she was signing as she knew Brian, often her taxi driver, well and had a strong bond with her mother.
Kent Police investigated the crash with the Serious Collision Investigation Unit. They determined there were no surface defects on the road or defects with any of the three cars involved.
The drivers of two other cars involved in the crash were called as witnesses.
John Baxter, of Maidstone, was on his way to choir practice in Cranbrook on the A229 in a black Grand Voyager Chrysler when he saw headlights coming towards him.
He said: "They looked as though they were coming straight at me. It was very alarming. The car then veered violently. I remember thinking it was either out of control or a young person being foolish. I was sure there was going to be a head-on collision so prepared for the inevitable.
"But for some reason it didn't happen and the headlights disappeared. The car ended up hitting the back of my car."
Caroline Bailey, of Tilden Lane, Marden, was driving a black Ford Galaxy and was also on her way to the choir practice in Cranbrook when she was hit by Mr Maitland's cab.
She said: "I had noticed Mr Baxter in front of me. I was aware there was something going on but it all happened too quickly to make a judgment.
"For a second, when I caught the red car in my peripheral vision, I thought it was trying to swerve in front of me to get to the Knox Bridge Café car park.
"But suddenly there was a massive bang. The air bags came on and I realised I had been hit." Reported by This is 3 days ago.