14-year-old killed in Marlborough accident is named (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

14-year-old killed in Marlborough accident is named

5:04pm Friday 27th July 2012 in News By Nigel Kerton

The boy who died in a collision near Marlborough early on Wednesday evening he has been named as 14 year old Kadian Harding, who lived in Hampshire but whose family until recently lived in Shepherdstown in West Virginia in the USA where families held a candlelit vigil last night.

His family had asked Wiltshire police not to release his details although he had been named on news websites in the USA and the Gazette has withheld his details until they were made public when Wiltshire Coroner David Ridley opened an inquest this afternoon. The inquest was adjourned while police investigations into the tragedy continue.

Kadian and his father Thomas, sisters and some friends were all at Marlborough College for its summer school and had enjoyed courses before going out for an evening bike ride at the end of one of the hottest days of the year so far.

Tragically Kadian died after coming down a steep hill on a green lane from Manton Down ahead of his family and friends and his pedal bike shot out into the A4 Bath Road at Clatford at 5.50pm on Wednesday into the path of Mercedes Sprinter Van driven by a 32 year old man from Melksham who police have not yet named. The driver suffered from severe shock.

Dr James Mapstone from SWIFT Medics who attended the accident at Clatford as the on-call emergency practitioner said Kadian’s injuries were so serious there was little or no chance of him surviving Wednesday’s crash.

Dr Mapstone, who is the associate medical director of Swindon Health Authority said the teenager suffered major head injuries when he was struck by the van on the fast stretch of road to the west of Marlborough.

The doctor said: “”He clearly had massive catastrophic injuries but despite getting full resuscitation we could not get his heart to re-start.”

Within seconds of the impact families from nearby homes gave the boy CPR following advice given over the telephone by an emergency operator at Great Western Ambulance Service and within six minutes an ambulance arrived and took over the resuscitation attempt until Dr Mapstone arrived a couple of minutes later.

Dr Mapstone said: “He could not have had better support at all. He had a truly un-surviveable set of injuries and we did everything humanly possible to save him, we could not have had any more resources working on him.”

The boy was certified dead at the scene before his body was removed by ambulance and taken to Great Western Hospital.

The flag at Marlborough College where the summer schools is in the first of its three weeks --has flown at half mast since the accident.

The candlelit vigil last night in Shepherdstown in the USA was organised by two youngsters who were friends of the teenager planned the vigil and in the Shepherdstown Chronicle their mother Monica Larson was reported as saying: “He was a clever, funny and very loving boy. He doted on his dog Duke, baked delicious desserts and could talk for hours on end about Apple products.

“He was a gift to the world and we will miss him very much.”

The vigil took place in front of a house where the 14 year old’s family lived until recently according to the US newspaper report.