Woman in Facebook death crash jailed for two years
THE WIFE of an ex-Royal Navy officer screamed his name and desperately called for help as he lay dying in the street after he was run over by car thieves, a neighbour said yesterday.
University of Leeds graduate Mike Samwell had confronted intruders after the break-in as he slept with his accountant wife, Jessica, at their £500,000 home in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester.
The 35-year-old had heard a loud bang and gone downstairs and outside to the parking space at the back of the house.
Greater Manchester Police, who have now arrested a 21-yearold man on suspicion of murder, said he was run down by thieves who had stolen his Audi S3 sports car.
His distraught wife screamed for help as neighbours dashed to the scene and called for an ambulance.
Mr Samwell died just over an hour later in hospital.
His neighbour, who lives in the basement flat next door, said he was woken at about 3am on Sunday after hearing the Audi hit railings, then got up to investigate.
He said: “Then I heard his wife screaming. She was screaming for help and his name. I was still kind of half asleep, which is what woke me up.”
The neighbour, who did not wish to be named, added: “By the time I got out there, there were other neighbours out there.
“There was people already attending; I came to the end of the drive to wait to wave the ambulance in.
“I think one of the neighbours was an off-duty policewoman so she took charge of the situation and I didn’t really see him. He was groaning; his wife was obviously distraught.
“They took him away in the ambulance. It turned up pretty quickly.
“I didn’t know him. I heard it all unfold and saw him taken away in the ambulance. I knew it was serious but it wasn’t until midday that I found out the worst.
“Up until that point I just assumed he had suffered some serious injuries but he would be home soon.
“But then when you hear that, it suddenly changes the situation. Obviously it’s become a murder then, it’s not just theft.”
The neighbour added: “You never really hear of murders around here. There is a very high burglary rate.
“The postcode has quite a high insurance premium, because of theft.”
The Audi was recovered by police badly damaged and abandoned three miles away in Whitby Avenue in the Ladybarn area of the city.
Mr Samwell trained as a naval officer at Britannia Royal Naval College in Devon and spent about a decade in the senior service before leaving in 2014.
He had graduated from the University of Leeds before working in a number of roles for the Royal Navy, including on board a nuclear attack submarine as a weapons officer, according to his LinkedIn page.
Detective Superintendent Jon Chadwick from Greater Manchester Police said: “Our investigation is still in its early stages and we are still appealing for the public to help us.” A WOMAN has been jailed for more than two years for ploughing into a stationary car and killing a pensioner as she tried to send a happy birthday message on Facebook.
Wendy Thompson, 53, of Barnetby, north Lincolnshire, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to causing the death of Rodney Lewis, 84, by dangerous driving and causing serious injury to his 77-year-old wife Marlene.
Mr Lewis died from his injuries following the crash on the North Circular Road in London on February 3, last year while Mrs Lewis suffered a shattered pelvis and broken hip.
The couple, from Enfield, had stopped to help their 21-year-old grandson after his Ford Fiesta broke down and they were trying to summon a recovery vehicle when Thompson’s car slammed into the back of them.
The court heard that afterwards the defendant told a lorry driver who had stopped nearby: “I was trying to put my charger in my phone, I just didn’t see him.”
Thompson later told the police that it was her friend’s birthday and she sent a happy birthday message on Facebook.
When she realised the message had not been sent, she went to press it again and the mobile phone had been in her hand at the time, she said.
A crash investigator found Thompson would have had enough time to avoid the collision if she had not been distracted by using her mobile phone.
Prosecutor Oliver Dunkin said: “This lady foolishly attempted to resend a mobile telephone message by holding the telephone and at the same time using her other hand to plug it in to charge.”
Judge Anthony Leonard QC sentenced Thompson to two years and three months in prison for causing death by dangerous driving and 15 months for causing serious injury by dangerous driving to run concurrently.
She was also disqualified from driving for 10 years.