EXPERTS speaking at a coroner's court hearing have said that an airbag caused the death of legal executive Jenny Riechardt, who was killed in a car crash in January last year.

Jenny Reichardt, 47, of Eccleston, died after her Rover 400 was struck by an oncoming car in Burrows Lane, Eccleston.

A senior police vehicle examiner and an accident and emergency medic both said the airbag was responsible for her death. The inquest jury was told that although Miss Reichardt's body showed no signs of facial injury the most likely cause of death was trauma to the front of the skull with a force equivalent to someone jumping from a building.

It is the first time that it has been suggested in Britain that an airbag may have been responsible for someone's death, although there have been many cases in America, with airbags being blamed for more than 50 deaths, hearing loss and tinnitus in almost a decade.

Miss Reichardt's partner, Kenneth Unsworth, of Owen Road, Rainhill - who works at Norton & Co. Solicitors in Rainhill - believes the airbag may have been responsible for the legal executive's death, and is due to consider legal action once the hearing has concluded.

Dependent upon the outcome of the hearing British designs for airbags may have to be altered if the device is found to be the cause of death.

The case was due to conclude yesterday (Wednesday).

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