The moment my perfect life was just ripped away
Mum’s agony as one-armed lorry driver kills girl of three and unborn brother in crash
A MOTHER who lost her threeyear-old daughter and unborn son when a one-armed lorry driver rammed into her car has described the moment her ‘perfect life was ripped away’.
Collette Wiggin, 31, was driving with daughter Isla when Thomas Hunter, 59, crashed an articulated truck into the back of their car.
Isla suffered serious brain injuries and died in hospital two days later.
Mrs Wiggin, a chartered accountant, suffered a broken neck in the crash in Oxford last August but still had to deliver her dead son, whom the family had already named Harry at Isla’s suggestion.
Mrs Wiggin read a statement to Oxford Crown Court about the horrific impact of the death of her ‘special little girl’ and the trauma of having to give birth.
‘Even at the age of three she was my best friend – we did everything together,’ she said. ‘My perfect life was ripped away from me due to a thoughtless act from another. I remember saying to Isla, “oh dear, that lorry’s going a bit fast”. I can’t remember anything after that.
‘It should have been me that sat by Isla’s bedside when I was in intensive care. I couldn’t because I was stuck in my hospital bed and my husband was thousands of miles away and couldn’t help.
‘On August 27, we had to make to most agonising deci- sion to turn off the life support of our beautiful daughter. On August 31, I delivered our son who had also died as a result of the accident.’
Mrs Wiggin’s husband Hayden, an RAF helicopter pilot, was stationed on the Falkland Islands. ‘The feeling of sadness and helplessness was hard to describe – my wife and daughter needed me and I could do nothing,’ he said.
‘It’s Mr Hunter’s fault my unborn son died. In the eyes of the law he was not yet a person but it’s clear Mr Hunter caused the deaths of two of my children.’
Hunter, who lost his left arm in an industrial accident and uses a hook in place of his left hand, admitted causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving at a previous hearing.
He was jailed yesterday for six years for causing death by dangerous driving.
Five other cars were involved and a further 13 people injured in the pile-up on the A34, the court heard. Mrs Wiggin’s car was in a queue of ‘slow-moving or stationary traffic’ when it was struck from behind by the lorry, an inquest into Isla’s death heard.
Prosecutor Michael Roques told the court that Hunter did not slow down from his lorry’s speed of 54mph until one second before the crash.
Hunter, who previously served in the military, claimed that he could not remember the accident.
Judge Ian Pringle told him: ‘ Your vehicle ploughed through other vehicles, scattering them like skittles.
‘The effect of your driving was catastrophic – Isla Wiggin was fatally injured and was taken to hospital... where despite the skilled efforts of the medical teams, she died.
‘You have never appeared in court before and you served your country in the Black Watch Regiment with distinction. You are a dedicated family man.’
Hunter, from Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, also received a three-year, eight-month jail term for causing serious injury by dangerous driving, to be served concurrently, and was banned from driving for five years and four months.
‘Sadness and helplessness’