I've just upgraded to 5.0.1 (everything same as OP except redsn0w 0.9.10b3) and my mail is crashing instantly too. Anyone heard of the reason and a fix?
The only way I was able to fix it was to do a restore to 5.0.1 instead of an upgrade. iTunes did copy my music and apps back, but I did have to reenter my email accounts, reconfig wifi and few other minor things. But it worked that is the big thing