Teen killed after smashing van with flat tyre into city centre bridge during police chase, inquest hears

A teenager was killed after his van with a flat tyre smashed into a bridge during a police chase, an inquest has heard.

Thomas Patrick Connor, known as Tull, died at the scene after the silver Vauxhall van ploughed into the railway bridge in Red Bank in Manchester city centre.

An inquest heard that the 19-year-old was being chased by police who mistakenly believed the vehicle had been involved in a burglary.

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Tull was the youngest of eight siblings, and had been staying on a traveller site on Dantzic Street, just yards from the scene of the crash, at the time of his death.

His sister, Laura Kelbie, told the hearing at Manchester Coroner's Court that he was employed as a landscape gardener and had been planning to move to Australia.

Ms Kelbie revealed that she had brought up Tull, from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, after he lost both his mother and father as a child.

She described him as a ‘good boy who had never been in trouble with the police’.

“Tull was the baby of the family," she said in a statement read out in court.

"He was showered with love. He was the link that kept the family together.

“Tull loved being the centre of attention.

“He was always laughing and would make a joke out of everything and anything.”

In the hours prior to his death on April 6, 2020, Tull and his friend Thomas Price had visited Steven Charles Snooker Centre in Cheetham Hill Road.

The inquest heard that the pair had been drinking beer, although a member of staff said Tull seemed ‘normal' and did not appear to be drunk.

After leaving the venue, Tull and Mr Price visited a Co-op store in the Green Quarter at about 10.45pm where they