Alexander Charles Edward Thomas · Prevention of Future Deaths report

On 15th August 2024 an investigation was commenced into the death of Alexander Charles Edward Thomas, aged 42. The investigation concluded at the end of the inquest on 13th January 2025. The conclusion of the inquest was that he died from multiple injuries consistent with a road traffic collision when he committed suicide.

Mr Thomas died on 14th August 2024 when he entered the eastbound carriageway of the M56 motorway between junctions ████████. A heavy goods vehicle collided with him when he deliberately stood in its path and he sustained fatal injuries. He had a longstanding diagnosis of depressive disorder.
The location of the collision was close to where ████████ passes under the M56 motorway and the nearby premises and car parks of the ████████ and the evidence was that Mr Thomas had entered the motorway from the ████████ area.

1. During the inquest, I heard that ████████ is a pedestrian walkway running underneath the M56 motorway. On the northern side of the motorway (eastbound carriageway side) the entrance to the walkway tunnel is constructed so that the buttress walls form a ramp-like structure which has a shallow gradient topped with a waist-high railing which provides an easily accessible and walkable route from the footpath to the Armco crash barrier bordering the hard shoulder of the eastbound motorway carriageway.
2. Also leading from ████████ is an established track through undergrowth running west parallel to the motorway. That path leads directly to a fixed bespoke metal ladder which appears to be specifically positioned so as to enable a person to climb up to the Armco crash barrier bordering the hard shoulder of the eastbound carriageway.
3. There is no fencing to prevent access over the Armco crash barrier onto the motorway itself along this stretch of the eastbound carriageway, in contrast to the substantial fencing positioned behind the Armco crash barrier along the opposite stretch of the westbound carriageway.