Friends of Newport victims blast police for taking 46 hours to find 3 dead – as dog walker eventually find tragic pals
FRIENDS of the Newport victims have blasted cops for taking 46 hours to find three dead after a dog walker made the tragic find.
Police today discovered three bodies after Rafel Jeanne-Actie, Eve Smith, 21, Darcy Ross, 21, Sophie Russon, 20, and Shane Loughlin vanished on Friday night.
The group had not been seen since enjoying a night out at the Muffler nightclub in Newport, Wales.
Eve, Darcy and Rafel died in the horror crash while Sophie and Shane are seriously injured in hospital.
Friends and relatives of the three young women and two men raised the alarm when they failed to return home from a night out clubbing and a planned trip to the seaside.
And the heartbroken families are outraged at how long cops took to locate the crashed motor after it was eventually found by a woman searching with her dog.
Friend Rhian Taylor, 26, said: “Those poor young girls could have been saved if they were found earlier.
“Thousands of people must have driven past and the police knew they were heading that way – why did it take so long to find them.”
Their car crashed off a busy dual carriageway into woodlands – and it took police two days to discover the horror wreckage with the five friends inside the mangled car.
Trainee bank manager Sophie was left seriously injured as a result of the crash.
Sophie’s mother Anna Certowicz, 42, was at her bedside at the University Hospital of Wales in Heath, Cardiff, after she was pulled from the wreckage.
She had been driving around Gwent and Cardiff in a desperate attempt to search for her daughter.
Anna told neighbours that police “really weren’t that bothered” when they reported the friends missing.
While one neighbour said of the worried mother: “She was very angry. She told that Sophie was a good girl – but she said they just weren’t that interested.
She was told: “They’ll turn up soon enough probably with just a hangover.”
Anna also claimed cops told her to “stop ringing” when she called to report her daughter missing.
It comes as…
- Three pals were found dead in a crashed car after five people vanished while on a night out in Newport
- Eve Smith, 21, was confirmed dead by her family, who had tragically lost her sister in a crash eight years ago
- Two pals were pictured beaming on the night out before the tragedy
- The mum of Sophie Russon claimed cops told her to stop calling
- She has now revealed her agony at desperately searching for her daughter while she lay critically injured
- Haunting CCTV was shared by friends of the car before it vanished in the early hours of Saturday
- Police are now probing just what happened in the hours before the crash
Anna had a call from her older daughter Georgia, 23, at midnight on Sunday saying the car had been found.
And she blasted Gwent Police for not taking the disappearance of her daughter and her friends seriously.
Anna said: “The next 48 hours are critical – she is having surgery now and we are hoping and praying.
“I can’t stop thinking about how Sophie had to lie there wondering if she would ever be found.”
A friend of Darcy and Eve also paid tribute online, saying: “I don’t really have the words right now. Darcy Ross I’m going to miss you little gypsy girl.
“You were one of a kind, I’m going to miss trying to ‘life coach’ you as you would’ve said. You were a real ray of sunshine especially on my bad days.
Meanwhile haunting CCTV has shown the white car the group had been travelling in before it was involved in a road traffic collision and came off the A48.
The snaps, shared by the young people’s families during the search, show the white car carrying the friends.
A spokesperson from Gwent Police told The Sun: “We understand how distressing it is when a loved one goes missing, we have seen the media reports about this and we will be liaising closely with the families involved to find out more information and address any concerns of this nature.”