A CORONER was told on Tuesday (November 26) it was still unknown how a teenage girl from Wellington managed to get out of a police car and run across the M5 motorway before being hit and killed by a vehicle.

Tamzin Ellen Hall, aged 17, a former pupil of Court Fields School, was at the time living in Henlade, Taunton, where she was a student.

She was being driven to a custody suite in Bridgwater on November 11 when police officers stopped the vehicle on the northbound hard shoulder of the motorway between junctions 25 and 24.

Ms Hall then managed to flee the police vehicle and run across the northbound lanes of motorway and the central reservation until she was hit by a car travelling south.

Somerset Senior Coroner Samantha Marsh opened inquest proceedings in Wells Town Hall into Ms Hall’s death and heard that she was being transported under arrest.

Mrs Marsh was told the police vehicle stopped for ‘reasons yet to be established’.

She said: “Tamzin climbed the barrier from the northbound carriageway into the southbound carriageway where she came into contact with a vehicle.

Huge queues on the M5 following a fatal collision
Traffic queuing on the M5 following a collision in which Wellington teenager Tamzin Hall died.

“Her injuries were not survivable and she was found deceased where she was discovered on the motorway.”

Following a post mortem examination, a provisional cause of death was given as head, neck, and chest injuries, pending laboratory results.

Mrs Marsh said a pre-inquest review would take place on November 5, 2025, which would be the ‘earliest opportunity for an inquest of this complexity’.

She said the full inquest would eventually be held with a jury because Ms Hall died while ‘in state detention’.

Mrs Marsh offered her condolences to Ms Hall’s mother, Amy, as well as her siblings and wider family for their tragic loss.

A specially-trained family liaison officer has been providing support for Ms Hall’s family.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has opened an investigation into the actions of police officers immediately before Ms Hall’s death.

IOPC director David Ford said the investigation was at an early stage with initial accounts received from the police officers involved and statements being taken from several witnesses