‘There’s a hole that feels like it will never repair’
AGRIEVING dad told how he was ‘laughing and joking’ with his loving daughter hours before she was killed in a road crash.
Neil Hope said he had been left with a ‘hole that will never repair’ with the loss of 19-year-old Charlotte.
Edge Hill student Charlotte was driving her mum Helen home when their Volkswagen Polo was involved in a crash on the A54 at Astley, near Shrewsbury.
It collided with a BMW M120i at 4.15pm on Saturday, April 9.
A passer-by tried giving the student CPR but she was pronounced dead by paramedics at the scene.
Her heartbroken mother was also left in hospital.
Neil paid an emotional tribute to his ‘little girl’ and said his wife was making a good recovery.
The 57-year-old RAF Wing Commander said: “She was a brilliant, young human being.
“She was caring compassionate, funny, and completely full of life.
“She loved it at school and she loved it at university. She was really fortunate as she had some really good housemates that she had been in the same block with last year, this was her second year. They were all so close.
“In fact, some of her flatmates and some of her schoolmates were together last night, they all came down to go to the crash site to put flowers and pictures down.
“It was lovely listening to them telling stories about her.
“She was passionate about helping others. The amount of stuff she did in 19 years was incredible. She always wanted to be a primary school teacher, ever since she was a little girl.”
Neil is the founder of Taking Football to Africa and Beyond which saw him, Charlotte and Helen often visit Africa with the charity. It supplied hundreds of thousands of football shirts to countries across Africa and the world.
Charlotte even volunteered at her local hospital in the league of friends cafe when staff were off ill during the Covid-19 pandemic. Neil said: “Because of the links with the charity I run, she wanted to go and work in Kenya so she could carry on doing voluntary work while she was there.”
Charlotte was a second-year stuAN dent at Edge Hill studying to become a primary school teacher. She had had her hair done that afternoon in preparation for the first placement of her course in Formby. The High Wycombe-born teen was described as ‘compassionate’ and ‘funny’ by Neil.
He said: “We’re absolutely devastated. On the day of the crash, her mum had gone out with friends and we dropped her off. We then went out to Telford, had a Wagamamas and went home. We were laughing and joking throughout.
“When we got back Helen rang to say she was ready to be picked up and I was the one who was meant to go get her but Charlotte said: ‘It’s okay dad, I’ll go get her’ and off she went, of course, she never came back.
“When the police came round, it’s the moment no parent ever wants to happen but at the time Helen was in critical condition as well so it was just horrendous.
“Helen is, fortunately, making a good recovery and we’re hoping she will be discharged today from Stoke hospital but she has quite extensive injuries.
“We’ve lost our little girl. This is our little girl and she’s only 19. There’s just a hole that feels like it will never repair.”
West Mercia Police confirmed a 33-year-old from Stoke-on-Trent was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving and had since been released on bail.