A two-year-old boy was killed by a family friend reversing into their driveway, an inquest has heard. Rufus Davies suffered fatal head injuries near Marlborough, Wiltshire, in May last year. The toddler was with his family visiting friends when the collision happened, Wiltshire and Swindon Coroner’s Court was told. Rufus’s mother, Olivia Davies, let him out of the car as Tamsin Hayward approached the driveway, the court heard.

“I told Rufus that Tamsin had arrived, and he was so excited to see her, he wriggled to get out of the car,” Mrs Davies said in a written statement. “I opened the driver’s door and helped him down. He ran round the back of the car. I figured Tamsin would park the nose of her car straight in next to mine and that in the time between his feet touching the ground and running behind my car she would have parked. It turns out she wanted to reverse her car in.

“I reached for my phone, water bottle and jumper from the passenger side, and as I got out of the driver’s door, I heard my daughter say to me, ‘Mummy, Rufus has been hit by Tamsin’s car’.

“I then ran to the back of my car and saw Rufus laying on the floor.”

Mrs Hayward said she reversed her Porsche Macan onto the driveway, which she usually did.

“I always drive very slowly in through the gate and into the drive,” she said. “Olivia and her daughter were standing on the grass outside their car on the driver’s side. I was really happy to see them and waved at them and said ‘hello’ as I drove in and had my driver’s window down.

“I knew that Rufus was also coming that day, but he wasn’t standing with Olivia and her daughter on the driver’s side or anywhere to be seen on the driveway when I drove in. I drove forward into the driveway, moving anti-clockwise around the grass circular island on my driveway.

“Apart from Olivia and her daughter, the driveway was clear and there was no one else to be seen. I drove approximately 180 degrees around the island, drew to a stop to then reverse back into my usual parking space.”

Mrs Hayward added that she had examined her wing mirrors and rear-view mirror before backing up, and had executed a careful manoeuvre.

“In the second I was looking between my right wing mirror and rear view mirror, about halfway into the parking spot, I felt the car had gone over something on the driveway,” she said.

“The bump I felt was on the passenger’s rear side of the car. I exited the car and saw a child lying on the gravel. To my horror I realised the gravity of the situation, and that Rufus must have been running behind me whilst I was reversing.

“I then saw Olivia running towards the back of the car with a look of horror on her face. I called 999 immediately.”

PC Alexander Way, a collision investigator, said no faults were found with the car and Mrs Hayward tested negative for both drugs and alcohol.

He said: “The case has failed the Crown Prosecution Service threshold for any prosecution under the Road Traffic Act as the location is not deemed a public place or road, and the driving is not deemed under current case law as careless. It’s an extremely tragic incident with the most devastating of outcomes.”

A post-mortem found Rufus had died from a diffuse traumatic head injury.

Ian Singleton, the area coroner for Wiltshire and Swindon, recorded a conclusion of misadventure.

“Rufus was so excited to see Tamsin that he wanted to get out of the car, so he was helped down and ran around the back of his mother’s car, unwittingly into the path of Tamsin’s car,” he said.