YouTuber DLuxx died from crash head injuries, inquest hears

A YouTuber died after suffering severe head injuries in a car crash while returning from a Halloween fancy dress party, an inquest has heard.

Douglas Tandoh, 26, from Plymouth, died in October 2021 when the car he was in struck a tree in stormy weather on the A35 near Charmouth, Dorset.

Mr Tandoh, known as DLuxx, had received more than six million YouTube views.

The inquest into his death heard the driver, Eyram Tetteh, was later convicted for drug-driving.

Bournemouth Coroner's Court heard the pair had been travelling back from a friend's party in Southampton early on 31 October 2021, when their Vauxhall Astra came off the road and struck a tree.

Insp Craig Tatton, of Dorset Police, said the emergency services were alerted from the occupants' two smart watches at 05:48 GMT.

Witnesses and police officers also reported driving conditions being poor, with surface water on the carriageway during what was a stormy weekend.

A blood sample taken from Mr Tetteh, who was taken to hospital with suspected spinal injuries, found cannabis in his system. He admitted a charge of drug-driving in September 2022.

He appeared at the inquest, via videolink, but chose not to answer any questions on legal advice.

Forensic pathologist Basil Purdue told the court Mr Tandoh had been "properly seat-belted" in the car and had very few surface injuries.

There were "no drugs of any kind" in his system, he said.

He said he suffered a severe impact on the right side of his head and would have died "extremely quickly".

The inquest earlier heard Mr Tandoh migrated to the UK from Ghana in 2011 and went on to set up a YouTube channel with music and gaming content. The channel now has 105k subscribers.

A statement from his brother, Chris Tandoh, described him as "a very quick learner who fell in love with making videos and went on to make a living as a social media expert".

Coroner Stephen Nicholls said Mr Tandoh was an "able and articulate young man" whose loss had been felt "very hard by family and friends".

He concluded he died from a head injury caused by a road traffic collision.

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