Cardiff car crash: Mum criticises two-day search to find group

The mother of one of a group found two days after a crash which killed three has criticised the police response.

Eve Smith, 21, Darcy Ross, 21 and Rafel Jeanne, 24, died after the crash near a major road in Cardiff and Sophie Russon, 20, and Shane Loughlin, 32, remain in a critical condition.

Ms Russon's mum Anna Certowicz said police "didn't seem to think it was worth investigating".

Police said they cannot comment while an investigation is pending.

South Wales Police and Gwent Police believe only one car was involved in the crash.

Both forces confirmed on Tuesday that collision occurred during the early hours of Saturday - the exact time will be confirmed by the investigation.

They said a first missing person report was made to Gwent Police at 19:34 GMT on Saturday, with further missing person reports made at 19:43 GMT and 21:32 GMT on Saturday.

A further missing person report was made to South Wales Police at 17:37 GMT on Sunday.

The police helicopter was requested at 23:50 GMT on Sunday to search an area of Cardiff, after which the vehicle was found, they said.

Meanwhile, it has since emerged that Ms Smith's sister Xana Doyle, 19, died in a crash in Newport in 2015.

Her family were part of a Sky documentary, called This is Our Family, where her mother, Emma, spoke about her grief and told how Xana had messaged her the night before the crash.

"Normally she would have phoned me in the early hours of the morning and asked for a lift but she didn't," she said.

Friends of the victims of the weekend's crash say they found the car first.

Ms Certowicz, 42, told the Daily Mail: "It's too awful to imagine what she went through trapped in the car in the dark until it got light and then dark again over two days.

"Sophie was lying there for all that time, they could all have been found much quicker if the police had started searching straight away."

She previously told the Mail: "They didn't seem to care. I had to drive to Cardiff to knock on doors myself."

Family and friends made repeated appeals to find the missing group over the course of the weekend.

South Wales Police and Gwent Police confirmed on Tuesday the last confirmed sighting of the group was at 02:00GMT on Saturday in the Pentwyn area of Cardiff.

They were not found until shortly after midnight on Monday - almost 48 hours later.

Ms Russon was having surgery on Monday evening, while friends of the group held a vigil at the scene. She remained in a serious condition on Tuesday morning.

A second vigil is planned later.

Newport West MP Ruth Jones said she understood the "consternation at the delay in apparently finding them" but people "need to hold fire and wait".

Gwent Police and South Wales Police have referred themselves to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), as is usual in such circumstances.

Gwent Police, which was responsible for the search, issued an appeal for information on the missing group on Sunday night, a few hours before they were found.

South Wales Police is investigating the crash.

The IOPC said it was "urgently carrying out an assessment of referrals received yesterday [Monday] from Gwent Police and South Wales Police to determine what action may be required from us".

In a statement, South Wales Police said the group was the subject of inquiries "by Gwent Police following a missing person report made during the evening of Saturday 4 March".

"A subsequent missing person report in respect of one of the individuals was made to South Wales Police on Sunday," it added.

All five had been on a night out in Newport when the car, a Volkswagen Tiguan, is believed to have veered off the A48 in St Mellons and into trees, with it unclear what exactly happened.

Friends of the five claimed they found the vehicle but police have said it was located by a helicopter.

Tamzin Samuels, 20, a friend of the three women, said police "only posted the appeal an hour before the girls were found".

Ms Samuels, who helped in the search effort, told the PA news agency: "I do think the police could have done a lot more in putting the helicopters out earlier.

"We found them before the police found them - we rang the police," she said.

"I think that speaks volumes really. They had all that equipment, and we had cars when we were looking."

Two women, who were friends of the Loughlin family, also questioned the police response.

"Everyone knew it was a crash, it was just a matter of waiting until they found them," they said.

"The families said it was out of character for them to go missing and the police should have listened to them."

In a statement, crash victim Eve Smith's family said: "We want to allow Gwent Police and South Wales Police the time and space to investigate the matter in a thorough and professional way and to enable the Independent Office for Police Conduct thereafter to come to their own conclusions."

Former Met police officer, Peter Bleksley, said: "On the face of it, with suitably resourced officers and the technology available, this should be a fairly straightforward kind of investigation to find the vehicle and the occupants.

"Quite simply something has gone wrong because they weren't found within a short space of time and, tragically, who knows whether injury or death may have been prevented," he told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.

"Not only do the police grade missing people according to the level of risk but crimes accordingly too.

"And if they regard a crime or a missing person as low level they quite simply don't do anything."

St Mellons residents and road users said they had travelled past the area several times over the weekend and had not spotted anything.

Howard Dainton, 72, said the crash scene was in a wooded area and "no one walks down there because it's hard to get in that area on foot".

"It's just a copse of trees and a ditch," he said. "It's very sad."

Dominic Shields, 58, who lives close to the site of the crash, said: "I drove down the slip road four times on Saturday and Sunday and it just brings home how often you are on autopilot.

"If I had my wits about me I could have seen something and got help to to them sooner."

Labour MP Ms Jones told BBC Radio Wales's Drive "we need to wait for the facts".

"I am aware of those complaints and obviously that's why the Independent Office for Public Conduct will be looking at exactly what happened with the circumstances around this terrible tragedy," she said.

"I know people have taken to social media to express their condolences.

"But rumours and things are circulating and sometimes it's quite tricky to actually establish the facts."

The women, from Newport, had gone to The Muffler club in the Maesglas area of the city late on Friday.

They then travelled 36 miles (58km) to Trecco Bay, a caravan park in the seaside resort of Porthcawl, Bridgend county, with the two men, both from Cardiff.

A Snapchat photo shared by Ms Ross' sister showed her and Mr Jeanne together on the night they went missing.

On Monday, South Wales Police said specialist officers were trying to "piece together" what happened.

Gwent Police said specialist officers were supporting the families.