A Leicester man who killed his two-year-old girl on Father’s Day after spending a weekend in Skegness also killed himself by crashing his car into a lorry, a coroner has recorded.
Both were pronounced dead at the scene. Lincolnshire Police later confirmed they had begun a murder investigation into the death of two-year-old Oria.
Last June 18, Orla Henry, aged two, was a passenger in a blue Nissan Quashqai driven by her father Ashley Henry, 35, who was travelling home to Leicester on the Main Road, Anwick when it was in collision with a lorry at around 2.45pm.
An inquest, held at Grimsby Town Hall on April 10, heard how Oria’s father, was driving them back from Skegness to Leicestershire when he pulled out of a carriageway and drove directly into the path of an oncoming HGV.
Ruling a verdict of unlawful killing, coroner Jayne Wilkes noted the toddler was already dead before the collision.
An inquest heard Henry left a suicide note of his “intention to end both his own life and that of his daughter”.
However, the BBC report also stated that the Coroner said she could not establish how Oria died as there was “no physical evidence of a fatal assault”, nor was there any “natural or toxicological” indications.
Ms Wilkes said: “On the balance of probabilities her death was the result of an unlawful act, which was carried out at some point before the road traffic collision, and at the time of this act, it was carried out with the intention of ending her life.”
After her death, grieving mum Rachael Leader paid tribute to her daughter saying: “To my darling daughter, Oria. I love you so much. I’m so sorry your precious life was taken from you. You gave me so much light sweetheart, so much love and so much happiness.”
