Driver high on ecstasy killed herself and passenger in Norfolk crash, inquest finds

A woman who was more than 10 times over the legal limit for the Class A drug ecstasy died two days after losing control of her car and colliding with a tree on the A11 south of Norwich, an inquest at Norfolk Coroner's Court heard.

Sara Pancas, 38, died of traumatic brain injuries on November 5 after her black Mini One hit a kerb and struck a tree just after 5 a.m. on November 3. Backseat passenger Sara Ribeiro, 29, was pronounced dead at the scene. The pair had been returning from a Halloween party at Kudos nightclub in Norwich, the court was told.

Toxicology tests identified ecstasy and cannabis in Pancas’s system, with a measured concentration described at the inquest as about 140 micrograms per litre — reported as roughly 14 times the legal limit. Forensic crash investigator Sophia Richards told the court that the most plausible explanation for the collision was impairment caused by drugs.

Investigators estimated the Mini was travelling at about 47 mph on the 70 mph road shortly after passing the Thickthorn roundabout. Police attending the scene found Pancas in the driver’s seat and Ribeiro unresponsive in the rear nearside seat. All four occupants were helped from the vehicle; two other passengers required hospital treatment.

One of those passengers, Anna Dias, who had been in the front seat and survived, told the inquest she had recently sold the Mini to Pancas. Dias said Pancas had expressed anxiety about driving on the left in the U.K., having been raised driving on the right in Portugal, and had told friends she did not want to drive that evening because she worried about what others would think of her driving.

Dias, who was airlifted to hospital after the collision and has no memory of the crash, said she believed Pancas to be a responsible driver who did not use her phone at the wheel. "She was a good driver," Dias said in a statement read to the court.

The third rear-seat passenger, Vladmira Silva, who was not wearing a seatbelt, sustained facial fractures and a dislocated hip and spent more than a month in hospital recovering, the court heard. Ribeiro and Pancas were both born in Portugal and shared a flat in Thetford, Norfolk.

Norfolk Area Coroner Yvonne Blake recorded a conclusion that Pancas died as a result of a road traffic collision and drug-related death. The coroner found Ribeiro’s medical cause of death to be transection of the descending aorta, concluding she died as a result of the collision.

Richards told the inquest that evidence of drug use by both Pancas and Ribeiro supported the conclusion that impairment played a central role in the crash. The inquest report included details from scene investigators about the vehicle hitting a kerb before leaving the carriageway and striking the tree.

Ribeiro’s mother paid tribute after the crash, saying her daughter had "so much to live for" and would be missed. Friends also posted social media tributes to both women.

No criminal charges were outlined in the inquest evidence presented at Norfolk Coroner's Court, which focused on establishing cause of death and the circumstances of the collision.