Phil Spencer’s parents’ death in river car plunge was tragic accident, coroner rules

The elderly parents of TV presenter Phil Spencer died in a tragic accident after their car plunged from a bridge into a river as they drove to lunch, an inquest has ruled.

The Location, Location, Location star’s mother Anne, aged 82, and father David, aged 89, spent 20 minutes trapped underwater after their car tipped over the edge of a bridge near their farm in Kent, the inquest previously heard.

Anne had been driving with her husband in the passenger seat and their full-time live-in carer in the back of their Toyota car just after midday when it crashed into the Nailbourne River.

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Their carer was able to climb out of the car and raise the alarm quickly, according to Mr Spencer when he announced his parents’ deaths on Instagram.

Though emergency services spent 90 minutes at the scene trying to revive them, both were later pronounced dead.

Coroner Sarah Clarke ruled on Tuesday that their deaths had been an accident, in circumstances which were “some of the most tragic I have heard”.

“My conclusion would be obvious to those aware of the circumstances,” said Ms Clarke. “Those circumstances are some of the most tragic I have heard and I am so very saddened for Anne and David’s family. The only occlusion is that both died because of an accident.”

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The coroner confirmed findings in November that Mrs Spencer’s medical cause of death was aspiration pneumonia, hypoxic-ischaemic brain injury and near drowning, while Mr Spencer was also found to have died of a lung injury after nearly drowning in the car.

Hypoxic-ischemic brain injury is caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain, while aspiration pneumonia is an infection of the lungs caused by inhaling food or liquid.

Hours after the accident, Mr Spencer, 53, shared that his parents’ health had been declining, with his mother having Parkinson’s and his father having dementia, and they were pulled from the submerged vehicle by Spencer’s brother, who managed to cut their seatbelts with a penknife.

“Although they were both on extremely good form in the days before (hence the sudden idea to go out to lunch), mum’s Parkinson’s and dad’s dementia had been worsening and the long-term future was set to be a challenge,” the property expert wrote in an Instagram post.

“So much so that mum said to me only a week ago that she had resigned to thinking ‘now it looks like we will probably go together’. And so they did.”

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The inquest heard the couple were said to have been chatting when they approached the “extremely narrow” bridge, which requires a great deal of care to negotiate as its slight incline “severely restricts the view of the edges of the road”.

Despite Mrs Spencer being very familiar with the route, having lived and worked on the farm with her husband their entire adult lives, the car appears to have veered very slightly to the offside of the bridge, and a police report suggested there had potentially been a “momentarily lapse in concentration”.

Following their deaths, the presenter paid tribute to his “amazing” parents and shared his appreciation that neither parent would have to live without the other.

“As a family, we are all trying to hold on to the fact Mum and Dad went together and that neither will ever have to mourn the loss of the other one,” he wrote, adding: “Which is a blessing in itself.”