‘Search party found girls before police’: Anger grows over why cops took almost 48 hours to find car crash friends

Steve Hopkins

‘The police didn’t listen, they didn’t want to know, it’s disgraceful’

Anger is growing over why it took police nearly two days to locate five young people who were involved in a fatal car crash after a night out, amid claims the wreckage was discovered by a dog walker.

Eve Smith and Darcy Ross, both, 21, and Rafel Jeanne, 24, were found dead in the car in St Mellons, Cardiff, shortly after midnight on Monday. Sophie Russon, 20, and Shane Loughlin, 32, were found alive, having spent two days critically injured next to their dead friends.

Darcy Ross, Rafel Jeanne and Eve Smith died in the crash

MailOnline reported on Tuesday that volunteers who joined the search revealed that a dogwalker had found the wreckage before police, which “speaks volumes”.

The VW Tiguan the group were in was said to have been found 20 yards from a busy dual carriageway.

Both Gwent Police and South Wales Police have referred themselves to the Independent Office for Police Conduct over the investigation.

Sophie’s mum, Anna Certowicz, has since revealed how she drove past the wreckage containing her daughter – who was semi-conscious with a broken neck and spine – three times, before she was eventually found, and how police did not take her calls to search for her seriously. They told her to “stop calling”, she claims.

Anna, a mum-of-three, said her daughter was “conscious some of the time” in the car after it ran off the A48 in Cardiff and had “called out but no one was close enough to hear her.”

Anna told the Mail that the group “could all have been found much quicker if the police had started searching straight away.” She called police at noon Saturday. Made ten calls that day. But it wasn’t until just after 11pm Sunday, that Gwent Police put out a public appeal. The car was found shortly after midnight on Monday.

Sophie is critical but stable in hospital and undergoing surgery for a bleed on the brain and fractures to her neck, spine and face. Shane’s condition is not known.

Speaking at the scene, a friend of the three women claimed it was members of the public searching who found the group, not the police, the Mail reported.

Tamzin Samuels, 20, said: “I do think the police could have done a lot more in putting the helicopters out earlier.

“They only posted the appeal an hour before the girls were found. We found them before the police found them – we rang the police.

“The search party found the girls before the police found the girls.

“I think that speaks volumes really, they had all that equipment, and we had cars when we were looking.”

Tamzin said the fact the girls had not returned home after going out was “really out of character for them to do what they did, which is why we knew something was wrong.”

Gwent Police have not responded to the criticism.

Assistant Chief Constable Jason Davies, of South Wales Police, has said: “Our thoughts are with the families of all those affected by this tragic incident.

“Specialist officers are carrying out an investigation to piece together what has happened. Family liaison officers are supporting the families involved at what must be a hugely difficult time for them.

“To ensure independent oversight, South Wales Police has referred the matter to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, as is usual in these circumstances.”

Anna said of Gwent’s Police response: “They didn’t take it seriously, they kept saying she’s 20 and they are all probably out partying.

“I told them my daughter doesn’t go out on three-day benders – she and her friends are good girls. It was out of character for all of them.”

She added: “We all knew it was something serious, all their phones went off line at the same time. But the police didn’t listen, they didn’t want to know, it’s disgraceful.”

Anna said a volunteer with a dog found the wreckage, not the police, whose helicopter passed over the scene: “It was one of the volunteer searchers with a dog, if she hadn’t gone into the trees they would still be there now.”

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