The fracture features for the accident crankshaft was consistent with 14 previous failures of the same part number. The engine manufacturer determined the failures were most likely due to the overheating of the steel during the forging process.
Really great! However that pilot was evidently not watching his airspeed, or (more likely) didn't know that a bank angle increases the stall speed.
I was not taught anything in the UK PPL (other than to find a field and head for it as if it was a runway) but in the FAA PPL they taught me to aim for the start of the downwind leg and to get there at 1500ft AGL. One assumes perhaps 750ft height loss over the downwind leg, and then one loses the remaining 750ft on the (constant bank) turn to landing. This is a perhaps a good technique if the only OK field is close by. Otherwise I would look for a sequence or 2-3 fields one after the other (because managing the heading accurately is far easier than managing the descent rate) in the distance, reasonably upwind if possible, and head for the middle one of the 3.