A FATHER saw his two children killed and his wife fatally injured in a
crash with a lorry yesterday, in the rear-view mirror of his Mercedes
car, as they followed him home in a Range Rover.
They were returning to London from a weekend in Devon, and the
four-year-old boy and 11-month-old baby girl were sitting in the back of
the Range Rover driven by their mother when it went out of control and
flew over the crash barrier of a dual carriageway. It was hit side-on by
the flatbed lorry which was travelling in the opposite direction.
The children were certified dead at the scene of the accident on the
A303 near Andover, Hampshire. Their 34-year-old mother was taken by
police helicopter to Salisbury District Hospital, with serious head and
internal injuries, and died later.
Police last night named the dead as Mrs Joanna Wace, of Putney,
London, her son Guy, and the baby girl, Alicia. The father of the
family, Mr Ian Wace, 31, a banker, was taken to the same hospital as his
wife, and was discharged later after receiving treatment for shock.
Both vehicles were packed with luggage after the family's weekend
break in Devon.
Mr Jonathan Barber, 38, the lorry driver, who received minor cuts in
the crash and was severely shocked, was recovering last night at his
home.
Station Officer Tony Mitchell, of Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service,
said: ''The father was at the scene when we arrived. He cradled the
four-year-old boy in his arms, lifted him up to his shoulders, held him
for a moment and then suddenly laid him down on the grass and covered
the body over.
''He cradled the boy until he died in his arms. Amazingly, he was the
coolest man at the scene.
''He kept walking over to his wife, who was trapped in the car, and
saying, 'You will be all right, darling,' but she was in a bad way.
''We cut the child out in 40 minutes. We could not get the mother out
until the ambulance staff had fitted an intravenous drip.
''The Range Rover was a total write off -- the passenger side was
virtually flat and the bodywork went up in a pyramid shape towards the
driver's side. The young girl was trapped in her child seat at the back
of the car.''
Sergeant Nigel Palmer, the officer in charge of the police inquiries,
said the cause of the accident was a mystery.
''We shall be checking the Range Rover thoroughly for any faults,'' he
said. ''It has been taken to a police garage. We are appealing for
anyone who saw the Rover cross the central reservation and collide with
the lorry. Why it happened is a mystery at the moment. There is no
obvious reason.
''We have spoken to Mr Wace at the hospital but he is very shocked. He
has told us he saw it all happen in his mirror.''
Mr Wace's brother, Charles, said Mr and Mrs Wace and the children had
spent a long weekend with him and his wife Sally at their house near
Newton Ferrers in Devon.
''They were down for a quiet weekend -- when they left this morning
everything seemed fine,'' he said. ''It is a terrible shock -- they were
a wonderful family.''
An inquest into the deaths of Mrs Wace and her two children is
expected to be opened in Winchester today.
Mr Wace is a director of Warburg Securities, and is working out his
notice after resigning to pursue his career with a smaller independent
City company.
* A 10-year-old girl died in hospital last night several hours after
being hit by a pick-up truck on the A351 near Gore Hill, Wareham,
Dorset. Police said the girl was on foot when she was hit.
Her name was not being released until relatives were informed.
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