BRITISH MUM, 27, KILLED IN SPEEDBOAT HORROR
A MANSLAUGHTER inquiry has been launched after a British mother died in a speedboat crash in the south of France.
Jess Wilkes, 27, was flung from the high-performance craft when it hit a warning beacon on the Rhone near the city of Avignon on Saturday night.
Four other people were injured, two of them seriously.
Ms Wilkes – who had a fiveyear-old daughter – was in the region celebrating a work colleague’s birthday.
Her brother Christopher, 29, said: “We have gone through that initial shock and tears.
“Now we are just trying to deal with the reality of it.
“We want to know what went wrong. It was a trip the driver made numerous times across a calm river. What did he get so wrong?
“It is a completely innocuous journey – that is the shocking thing. Of all the ways for a tragedy like this to occur, we don’t understand how it could have happened.”
He said his sister was “a loving daughter and caring mother to daughter Alissia”.
“She was a social butterfly who made everyone around her feel special,” he said.
“She had an infectious energy and passion which she applied to everything in life.”
French prosecutors will now examine whether the 58-yearold skipper of the boat had been speeding, whether he was intoxicated and whether his boat was suitably equipped for the night trip.
Police have already begun to interview staff at Delta Marine, the speedboat’s owner.
The beacons are solid metal pillars in the middle of the river that help traffic to navigate.
Ms Wilkes, of Lamberhurst, Kent, was a PA at an architect’s office in London.
She had spent the evening with friends at a restaurant on Barthelasse, an island on the river, and the boat was travelling back to Avignon.
After the collision, which was described as being “extremely violent”, Ms Wilkes was flung from the boat. Within minutes, emergency services arrived in boats and launched a search. It took three hours to recover Ms Wilkes’s body, which was eventually found in 20ft of water.
The victim’s father, Bernard Wilkes, 72, said the family want answers over the death of his “beautiful young girl who lived life to the full”.
Jess’s mother Susanna said her daughter suffered a fatal head injury. It is believed death was nearly instantaneous.
Fighting back tears, Mrs Wilkes, of Tunbridge Wells, Kent, said: “It is such a dreadful accident. She was thrown over the front of the boat and straight into the bollard. I am thankful she did not suffer.”
Maximilian Meyer, Jess’s former partner and father of her child, said: “Jessie was loved by everyone. She was exceptionally talented, beautiful and kind-hearted with a charisma that would light up a room with her presence.
“She has left behind memories that will never be forgotten, kindness that will always be remembered and our daughter, who will live and breath her mother’s qualities.
“The pain is unbearable and she will be missed forever.
“Goodbye, you beautiful soul. I will always love you.”
One friend wrote on Facebook: “No words can describe this awful pain in my heart.
“Keep shining with your immense light in the sky.”
Another, Sarah Beer, said: “Wow can’t quite believe what I’ve just read. RIP Jess Wilkes.
“You had a soul no one who met you could ever forget xxx.”