THE coroner said one of the most “compelling” pieces of evidence came from taxi driver Martin Farey.

On the evening of August 8, 2007, Mr Farey had just dropped off a customer in the village of Downholme, near Richmond, North Yorkshire.

He was driving back over the moors towards Hudswell when he looked to his left.

Mr Farey, of Barton, near Richmond, told The Northern Echo: “I saw the helicopter come up over the cliff and come along level with the car.

“It flew up and came right over the top of my car.”

The taxi driver estimated that the aircraft passed 5ft above his vehicle.

“I said to myself ‘what the hell’s going on’. I got a bit of a shock and I stopped the car.”

Mr Farey continued watching as the helicopter disappeared out of sight.

He said: “You see Army helicopters all the time because of the area it is, but I’ve never seen one suddenly appear like that and then fly as erratically as it did when it flew away.”

Although the height the helicopter passed over the vehicle was questioned during the inquest, it is now known that the crew had deliberately tried to frighten the driver.

On the cockpit voice recorder, pilot Dave Sale was heard to say “Let’s scare the s*** out of this taxi”.

The helicopter crashed about two hours later.