Scientist, 27, who helped UK through Covid died after crashing into wall on holiday
'Susannah was an inspiring woman, an incredible scientist and was loved and admired by all.'
A government scientist who helped steer the UK through the Covid-19 pandemic was killed on an holiday after crashing her bike into a concrete wall.
Susannah Boddie was on holiday near Lake Garda, Italy, in August when she suffered fatal head injuries after the crash.
The 27-year-old from Nettlebed, Oxfordshire, biked down a steep trail in the mountains above Toscolano Maderno with her boyfriend before colliding into a concrete wall.
She was the lead health data scientist for 10 Downing Street’s science team.
Her boyfriend Robert Johnson said: ‘We were on the last day cycling. Everything was normal and we were cycling for about 30 minutes and it was mostly downhill.
‘We were following a GPS route that took us down a smaller, steeper road but nothing I wasn’t comfortable doing and nothing Susannah hadn’t done before.
‘I was slightly ahead and suddenly she came flying past me and seemed out of control. She went around a bend ahead of me, out of sight.’
When he caught up with Susannah he could see she had crashed into a wall and appeared to be breathing but was bleeding from her mouth.
A passing couple stopped to help and emergency services arrived 30 minutes later due to the rural location, the inquest was told.
After 45 minutes of treatment, she was pronounced dead.
The inquest heard Susannah’s family had her bike, which she took to Italy herself, examined and it was considered a possibility the inner tube of the front wheel had exploded, rendering the brakes useless.
It was heard the bike had been fine the day before when the couple had been taking downhill routes.
Coroner Darren Salter said that it was difficult to know what the circumstances were that has caused Susannah to lose control.
He said: ‘I’m not entirely sure if we will get to the bottom of what went wrong.’
After concluding an accidental death, Mr Salter said: ‘Susannah was an inspiring woman, an incredible scientist and was loved and admired by all. She had achieved so much in her short life.’
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