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A case of mistaken identity following a tragic car accident has been brought to light at Doncaster Coroner’s Court, where it emerged that police initially misidentified a teenager believed to have died in the crash. Trevor “TJ” Wynn, aged 17, was reported dead after a collision on 13 December, while the family of 18-year-old Joshua Johnson was informed he had sustained serious injuries. However, confusion over the identification arose when the injured teenager in hospital awakened weeks later and confirmed he was actually Trevor, not Joshua.
The incident occurred near Rotherham, on a road between Dinnington and Todwick, involving a silver Toyota Corolla that left the road and struck a tree in the early hours. South Yorkshire Police Detective Chief Inspector Andy Knowles explained in court that the female driver, 17-year-old Summer Louise Scott, and one male passenger died at the scene. Another male passenger was critically injured and taken to hospital.
Items found at the crash site included a phone and driving licence in Joshua Johnson’s name, as well as another phone displaying medical information belonging to Trevor Wynn, along with a bank card. Officers used these possessions to identify the victims, contacting Trevor’s mother, who provided further identification such as his college ID card and descriptions of his appearance. Based on this, an officer concluded the body matched Trevor’s details and took the ID to the mortuary for verification. Meanwhile, staff at the hospital were led to believe the injured individual was Joshua, based on a driving licence photo viewed by another officer. Confusion persisted until the patient awoke and raised doubts, prompting police to secure dental records that confirmed his true identity as Trevor.
During the hearing, Coroner Nicola Mundy expressed satisfaction that the inquest opened on 22 December actually related to Joshua Johnson, not Trevor Wynn. Siobhan Golightly, an officer at the Coroner’s Court, noted that until early January, no concerns about misidentification had been raised. The court was informed that an 18-year-old and a 19-year-old have been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and perverting the course of justice respectively; both remain on bail as inquiries continue. South Yorkshire Police have referred themselves to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which has launched an investigation into police handling of the identification process.
Emily Barry, director of the IOPC, conveyed her sincere condolences to the families affected by this unfortunate series of events, describing the situation as “something that has gone very wrong with awful consequences.” The police have since pledged improvements to ensure that visual identification errors do not recur, with Detective Chief Inspector Knowles affirming that these issues have now been addressed to “a high degree of certainty.” The investigation into the crash and subsequent events is ongoing, balancing the coroner’s inquiry with potential criminal proceedings
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