Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Hol death crash victim was a killer who had turned her life around
Murder of neighbour meant she served 12 yrs She became the first UK lesbian prison bride
was a vibrant, pioneering supporter of our family.” And Claire Robinson said: “This is very sad. Zara was so full of energy and she had so many plans.”
Kayla Torkington, on the Women Supporting Social Enterprise Facebook page, added: “I want to pay tribute to the wonderful Zara, we are shocked.”
Zara was awarded Mentor of the Year 2018 for helping ex-inmates.
She had devoted herself to the cause after finding it tough to integrate back into society. In 2003, the mum-of-two was living in a ground-floor flat in Purley, South London.
She complained to neighbour David Thompson, 37, and his wife that their teenage boys were “disrespectful”. The dispute escalated with threats and she attacked Mr Thompson at his front door with a 10-inch kitchen knife.
Zara, then Sara Crane, was jailed for a minimum of 12 years. During a failed attempt to reduce the term, an Appeal Court judge was told of Zara’s troubled childhood.
She argued the trial judge had not taken into account her “appalling personal life” or her guilty plea when setting the sentence. Her mum had walked out when she was 13 and her father moved away. In 1997, Zara was jailed for three years for robbery.
Once behind bars for the killing, she struck up a relationship with a fellow inmate and the pair were married at HMP Send near Woking, Surrey, in 2010.
On her release from prison in 2015, Zara returned to Manchester and started her own recruitment business.
She died in the 6am smash after a night out with pal Louise Waddington.
Youth worker Louise, 39, of Manchester, suffered head injuries and is in intensive care in Crete’s capital, Heraklion.
Apprentice builder Luke had met the pair on a night out.
Moments before the horror crash, he was filmed on a traffic camera standing up in the rented Kia dancing and singing.
Another passenger, an 18-year-old male, was apparently wearing a seatbelt and escaped the crash unhurt.