Emiliano Sala: Family lose bid for pilot's inquest evidence

The family of Emiliano Sala has lost a bid for evidence to be heard from a pilot who said he would not have flown the plane which crashed into the English Channel as it was "unsafe".

Footballer Sala, 28, died in January 2019, when the plane carrying him from Nantes in France to Cardiff crashed.

His body was recovered the following month, but the body of David Ibbotson, who flew the plane, was never found.

The coroner said evidence from the other pilot would be duplication.

Speaking at a pre-inquest review at Bournemouth coroner's court, the senior coroner for Dorset, Rachael Griffin, said it had already been covered by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) into the cause of the crash.

The pilot was among an extra five witnesses the family's legal team were hoping to call who might be able to offer some insight on the condition of the plane before the accident flight.

The pilot in question was said to be communicating with Mr Ibbotson on 21 January 2019, hours before the plane crashed, as Mr Ibbotson tried to remedy faults he had encountered on the aircraft on the flight from Cardiff into Nantes.

Matthew Reeve, barrister for the Sala family, said the pilot had written a "candid note" about how Mr Ibbotson felt about the aircraft.

"It's the closest we have to evidence from him," added Mr Reeve.

The coroner concluded that the report from the AAIB was "complete" and the five additional witnesses would not be called.

Emiliano Sala's brother Dario was at the hearing having flown in from Argentina for the start of the inquest.

He was accompanied by an interpreter and his Argentine lawyer.

Nora Ibbotson, wife of pilot David Ibbotson, and son Bradley were also in attendance.

The full inquest is expected to last for up to five weeks.

Sala was flying to south Wales to join his new team, Cardiff City.

The jury will be sworn in on Tuesday, with the first witnesses expected to include a Home Office forensic pathologist and toxicologist.