Student killed in motorway pile-up

Adam Hewitt • Published 7 Sep 2010 08:30 1 Comment

A READING-based scientist is fighting for his life after a four-vehicle motorway pile-up claimed the life of his girlfriend.

Jemma O’Sullivan, 22, who is thought to have been living in Reading during the summer, was helping her partner Alan Godfrey move his possessions up to Newcastle University, where he was due to start a new job on Monday.

But the Citroen Berlingo Dr Godfrey was driving was in a smash on the M18 near Doncaster on Friday afternoon. Police say a Mercedes lorry went into the back of them on a sliproad, shunting them into a Scania lorry which then overturned and smashed into a Vauxhall van.

Ms O’Sullivan, who was in the passenger seat, died of her injuries. She came from Limerick in Ireland and her family still lives there, according to the Irish Independent.

Dr Godfrey, 27, was also Irish and had studied and worked at the University of Limerick before moving to Reading last year, where he was part of a project called Novel Assessment of Nutrition and Ageing (Nana).

He had just left to begin work on the LiveWell project based at Newcastle University.

Dr Ben Cosh, Head of Reading University’s School of Systems Engineering, said: “Everyone at the University of Reading and especially within the School of Systems Engineering is deeply saddened to hear of this tragic accident. Our thoughts are with the families and friends of Alan and Jemma.”

Dr Godfrey is now at Northern General Hospital in Sheffield. The hospital would not confirm the extent of his injuries, but police called his condition “serious”.

Ms O’Sullivan was about to start her final year as a pharmacy student at Sunderland University, reports say.

The 66-year-old driver of the Mercedes lorry, from Rotherham, was also taken to hospital with serious leg injuries but the three other men involved, the Scania driver and his passenger and the van driver escaped with minor injuries.

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This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 08 Sep 10

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• 

  tunisia
  Unregistered User
  Dec 12, 08:57
  Report comment

  I believe, that the lorry driver, should have got a life sentence, to be served in prison, till he dies, I believe this should be done, as he had no care for anyones life while he was at the wheel of his lorry, to be a LGV driver you need sense and respect for other road users and to be prepaired for unforseen hazards, driving needs your full attention, clearly this lorry driver decided that other road users and their lives were not important. He knew the likely outcome of not being aware and he knew that by texting he was puting other roadusers at risk, so I would charge him with Manslaughter and sentence him to life meaning life, this would deter other drivers from doing similer things.
  
  Recommend?   Yes 0     No 0

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