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09/02/05 - ACCIDENT: Dad wants
answers to son's tragic death
Peterborough Today
 |
| Paul Parris
with son David. |
A FATHER whose honeymoon was overshadowed by the death
of his son is today waiting for answers about the tragedy.
Paul Parris and his new bride were enjoying a romantic
holiday on an island in the Indian Ocean when they got
the tragic news that his son David (21) had been killed
in a road accident.
In an instant, joy turned to despair as Paul had to
plead with airport officials on Koh Samui, Thailand,
to get him on the first flight home.
Today, Paul hopes an inquest will provide answers to
how his son David, of Primroses, Deeping St James, near
Peterborough, came to crash into a tree.
David's van was found by police at 8am on January 23,
on Greatford Road, between Uffington and Tallington,
near Stamford.
No other vehicle was involved in the accident.
Only a week before, David had proudly stood by his
father's side as a witness at his wedding in a Nottinghamshire
country hall and wished him and his second wife Jenny
(54) good luck.
Paul said: "To be honest no one really knows what
was going through his mind at that time. He must have
lost the van on a corner or something.
"I don't really want to speculate until the inquest.
Hopefully that will be held in about three months time
and then we can get some answers."
Today Paul said everyone in the family had been shattered
by the disaster, including David's mother Angela (50)
and his sister Ruth (24) of Baston, near Market Deeping,
and his girlfriend Gemma Harding (21) who he lived with
in Deeping St James.
Paul said he would never forget the moment he got a
text message from Ruth telling him to call home urgently.
When he picked up the phone to make the call he was
completely unprepared for the shock news and the 6,000
mile emergency flight home which followed.
Paul, of Skillington, near Grantham, said: "It
came as a complete shock and I was so far away. I felt
powerless to help. We came back that night on the plane,
and it seemed a long 11 hour flight back to England.
"It was the worst journey of my life, a complete
nightmare. There were so many thoughts going through
my head and I just had to get back as quickly as I could."
David, a self-employed carpenter and a former pupil
of Deepings School in Deeping St James was described
by his father as a 'kind-hearted lad' who loved making
people laugh, and he had many friends.
Peterborough Crematorium was was packed with nearly
300 family and friends wanting to pay their last respects
to David last Friday.
• Police are appealing for witnesses to the accident,
and anyone with information should call 01522 558855.
09 February 2005 |
| Contact : bernard.omahoney@bernardomahoney.com |
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