‘I think my mum was looking down on me’
AN ASPIRING rugby player believes his murdered mum saved him from a horror crash which could have claimed his life.
Christopher Crumpton’s mum Melanie Elsbury was murdered at home by his father when Chris was just four.
On Wednesday at about 10pm, he was driving past the entrance to the road where she lost her life in Bridgend, in 2004, and his car hit a concrete bollard in torrential rain.
It burst into flames, but the 17-year-old, who plays for Bridgend Athletic and the Ospreys under-18s, believes he was only momentarily knocked out and woke after seconds, in time to see the fire and leap clear of the car.
“I think mum was looking down on me,” he said.
Virtually uninjured, he also calmly retrieved his phone before the 2013 white Seat was engulfed in flames. It has been declared a total loss.
The Brynteg School pupil, who is in his last year of A-levels, was just 30 seconds from home in Cae Siwsan when the collision happened and believes the poor weather was to blame.
Both he and his grandparents, Julie and Colin Crumpton, believe Mel, who was 27 when she was strangled at her home in Nantyffynnon in Brackla, was looking out for him.
“When I came to I noticed there was smoke and flames,” said Chris, who crashed on Brackla Way after dropping his girlfriend Lacey home.
“I just got out and someone came and turned the engine off.
“I rang my grandad and told him what happened. I don’t know how it went up in flames. I’ve got just a couple of cuts on my legs and a bad chest from the seatbelt. I also have a massive headache from the air bag.
“The recovery man said when he came to pick it up, he lifted the car and the engine just fell out the bottom.”
Chris, who passed his test in March, said speed was not a factor as the car is fitted with a black box, which monitors his driving for insurance purposes.
His nan Julie, 63, who brought Chris up with his grandad, Colin, 64, said: “We think Mel was looking out for him and everyone has said that.
“The car is nothing, we are not bothered. It’s just a tin box. We are glad he got out.
“The police were really good. They said it was just an accident.”
Firefighters from Bridgend also attended and the road was blocked while the fire was extinguished.