Cory Dove and Matthew Steward inquest: Childhood friends died when quad bike collided with minibus in Turkey

17 February 2025, 16:17 | Updated: 17 February 2025, 18:03

Two childhood friends on holiday in Turkey died when the quad bike they were riding crashed with a minibus, an inquest has heard.

Matthew Steward and Cory Dove, both fathers from Harwich in Essex, were riding the hired vehicle when they hit the bus "head-on" just before midnight on 13 May last year, Turkish officials said in a report.

Construction worker Mr Dove, 26, was driving the quad bike, and Mr Steward, a 26-year-old factory worker, was his passenger, Monday's hearing in Chelmsford was told.

Mr Dove "crashed his ATV (all-terrain vehicle)... while he was driving fast on the winding road", and both men were thrown from the vehicle, the report said.

The bus was on the correct side of the road heading in the opposite direction when, according to the driver, the quad bike entered a bend and "crossed into my rightful lane".

The bus driver said he was going to a hotel to pick up staff, was travelling at 30kmh (19 mph), and was "easily able to slow down" but the quad bike "violated the lane and hit my vehicle from the front left side at speed."

Prosecutors decided to take no action against the driver, Essex's senior coroner Lincoln Brookes said, quoting from documents obtained by Mr Steward's parents from Turkish authorities.

Both men died from multiple traumatic injuries as the result of a road traffic collision, the coroner concluded, adding that while there was a police report, "it's not what I would call a forensic collision investigation here".

He said there were no details about whether either vehicle had mechanical defects, but both men were within the legal UK drink-drive limit, according to post-mortems carried out in the UK.

In a statement read at the inquest, Mr Dove's mother Sarah said her son had two children, aged eight and one, and "loved his family and friends".

"Cory went on holiday with his girlfriend and his two boys," she said, where he "met up with a childhood friend of his".

"He spent the day with him and in the evening himself and his friend went out... and a bus hit them both," she said.

She said Mr Dove "grew up on motorbikes and quadbikes, he knew how to ride which makes this so hard to believe he's gone".

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Mr Steward, an electrical components factory worker, was also a father and his family said in a statement read to the inquest that he had a passion for metal detecting and Christmas lights.

"We were robbed of many fulfilling years," they said, adding: "He will be truly missed."

Mr Dove's partner said the pair had been travelling to a shop at the time of the crash and had made the journey "multiple times" that day.

Mr Brookes extended his condolences to family members in court, adding: "The pain shared I cannot begin to imagine to be honest."

(c) Sky News 2025: Cory Dove and Matthew Steward inquest: Childhood friends died when quad bike collided with minibus in Turkey