Mother of girl injured in Cardiff car crash that killed three says she’d ‘never met’ the two men involved in smash before they left club together and went on an 85 mile drive – as watchdog probes why it took police 48 hours to find wreckage
- READ MORE: Questions grow about why it took police so long to find victims
- Gwent and South Wales Police probed by Independent Office for Police Conduct
Best friends Eve Smith, 21, Darcy Ross, 21, and Sophie Russon, 20, had driven to the Maesglas sports and social club in Newport, South Wales, at around 11pm on Friday where they met Rafel Jeanne, 24, and Shane Loughlin, 32.
They had never seen the two men before, according to Ms Russon’s mother, Anna Certowicz. A Snapchat photo from the night shows Mr Jeanne with an arm around Ms Ross.
The group left in Ms Smith’s white BMW hatchback to travel 36 miles to Trecco Bay caravan park in Porthcawl, where Mr Loughlin’s family have a caravan. Their car was next seen on CCTV at 2am in Cardiff, where they reportedly dropped off an unnamed man.
Their car later collided into trees by a dual carriageway in St Mellons, Cardiff. While the exact route the group drove is not known, a direct journey would have taken them approximately 85 miles.
The bodies of Ms Smith, Ms Ross and Mr Jeanne were pulled from the wreckage, while Ms Russon and Mr Loughlin were still found alive, having spent two days critically injured next to their dead friends.
Best friends Eve Smith, 21, Darcy Ross, 21, and Sophie Russon, 20, met Rafel Jeanne, 24, and Shane Loughlin, 32, at a social club in Newport
Darcy Ross and Rafel Jeanne partying together in Newport on Friday night
As the pair continue to fight for their lives in hospital, police are facing growing questions about why it took 46 hours to find them. Gwent Police and South Wales Police have now referred themselves to the Independent Office of Police conduct.
A missing person report was filed with Gwent Police at around 9pm on Saturday, the Telegraph reported, quoting police sources.
Yet an official appeal was not issued until just after 11pm on Sunday – more than a day later.
In the meantime, relatives were frantically appealing for information on social media and had even started their own searches for their relatives.
The mother of Ms Russon, Anna Certowicz, said she was appalled by the apparent lack of concern among officers when she first reported her daughter missing.
In response, she was forced to mount her own search around Gwent and Cardiff after the force told her to ‘stop ringing’ the station for updates.
‘They didn’t seem to care,’ Ms Certowicz, 42, said. ‘I had to drive to Cardiff to knock on doors myself because they were doing sod all. They just didn’t seem to think it was worth investigating. It was so frustrating.
‘I think they assumed that Sophie was hungover somewhere, but she’s a sensible girl who works in a bank and hasn’t taken a day off for three years.
‘She’s not someone who’s out clubbing in Cardiff all the time. On Friday nights she’s more likely to be babysitting so other people can go out. She wouldn’t just vanish like this unless something was wrong.’
Family of the missing friends shared this CCTV of their car on the night of the tragedy
Ms Russon’s mother Anna Certowicz, 42, (left) believes her daughter and her two friends met Mr Jeanne and Mr Loughlin for the first time on the night of the tragedy
Ms Certowicz said she drove past the site where the white VW Tiguan was found three times in her desperate hunt, passing within 20 yards of the SUV that was hidden by trees.
Meanwhile, volunteers who joined the search for the missing five said the fact a dog walker found the wreckage before police ‘speaks volumes.’
READ MORE: Sister of 21-year-old killed in crash shares heartbreaking tribute – eight years after their older sibling died in drug-drive smash
South Wales Police and Gwent Police have since referred the matter to the Independent Office For Police conduct.
Ms Certowicz was one of 200 people out searching for Sophie, her friends Eve Smith, 21, Darcy Ross, 21, and two men named as Rafel Jeanne, 24, and Shane Loughlin, 32.
She revealed that 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.’
She said: ‘I feel terrible for the families of Eve and Darcy, they were all best friends and had known each other since they were small’, adding the only people who knew what happened were her daughter and the other survivor Shane, who only met the girls for the first time on Friday night.
Sophie is critical but stable in hospital and undergoing surgery for a bleed on the brain and fractures to her neck, spine, and face.
Ms Certowicz said: ‘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.’
Ms Certowicz said she made her first call to Gwent Police at noon on Saturday.
She made ten calls that day but police kept telling her not to worry, and that Ms Russon was ‘probably out partying’, she said.
It was not until more than a day later, just after 11pm on Sunday, that Gwent Police finally put out their own public appeal.
Eve Smith, 21, (pictured) whose sister Xana was killed by a drug and drink driver in 2015, died in the crash
Ms Smith was good friends with Darcy Ross and Sophie Russon (left and right)
Shane Loughlin, 32, and Rafel Jeanne-Actie, 24, met the women at a social club in Newport
READ MORE: Three victims of horror Cardiff crash including son of ex-QPR footballer
Her daughter was eventually found and cut out of the VW Tiguan where she spent two days knowing her friends were dead alongside her.
Ms Smith and Mr Jeanne died in the crash in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Ms Certowicz said the only people who knew what happened were her daughter and the other survivor, Mr Loughlin.
All five victims who had been out together in Cardiff and Newport were found shortly after midnight on Sunday.
Speaking at the scene, a friend of the three girls said the police could have ‘done more’.
Tamzin Samuels, 20, said: ‘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. I think that speaks volumes really, they had all that equipment, and we had cars when we were looking.
‘They were really popular girls, the life of the party, and it was really out of character for them to do what they did, which is why we knew something was wrong.’
MailOnline has approached Gwent Police for more clarity on the search effort.
Mr Jeanne (left) is the son of former Cardiff City and QPR footballer Leon Jeanne (right), who was once dubbed Wales’ most promising footballer before being jailed in a drugs case
Eve (left with mother Emma, stepfather Tony and her brother) in the Sky TV show This is Our Family, which followed their lives after the death of her sister Xana in a car crash in 2015
Eve Smith’s sister Xana Doyle (left, and together right) was killed by a drunk and drugged up driver in 2015
Assistant Chief Constable Jason Davies of South Wales Police confirmed the police watchdog would now investigate what happened.
‘Our thoughts are with the families of all those affected by this tragic incident,’ he said.
‘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.’
Details have emerged about the victims as police continue to piece together the events leading up to the crash.
Rafel Jeanne is believed to be a relative of former Queens Park Rangers footballer Leon Jeanne, 42.
Their car later collided into trees by a dual carriageway in St Mellons, Cardiff
The trees meant the crash site was hidden to passing motorists
Meanwhile, Eve Smith tragically lost her sister Xana was killed in a car crash in January 2015.
Sakhawat Ali, then 23, who was high on cocaine and cannabis and twice the drink-drive limit, had given Xana a lift home from a party.
She was a passenger when the flipped over at 60mph in January 2015.
Eve and Xana’s stepfather is Tony Borg, a former boxer who trained Welsh Olympic medal winning boxers and world champion Lee Selby.
After Xana was killed, Eve paid an emotional tribute to her saying she had ‘tragically lost my beautiful big sister’.
Eve and her family appeared in a Sky documentary ‘This is Our Family’ calling for tougher sentences for dangerous drivers.
They were followed by a camera crew for three years.
Police are today probing how the car lay undiscovered for 48 hours off one of South Wales’ busiest roads, with two people alive and three dead among them.
Firefighters were seen carrying stretchers and cutting equipment towards the car this morning.
The car was removed on a flatbed truck at lunchtime after a private ambulance arrived to carry away the dead.
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