Two police forces heavily criticised for their response to a crash that killed three young people and left two seriously injured have confirmed more than 46 hours passed between the group’s last sighting and their wrecked car being found and that four separate missing persons reports were made to them.
Gwent and South Wales police also confirmed that the last sighting of the car was only about 2.5 miles from where it was found, which will raise more questions over why it took so long for the five to be discovered.
The two forces have referred themselves to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), with family and friends claiming officers failed to take their concerns seriously and suggesting that members of the public rather than officers found the car.
Eve Smith and Darcy Ross, both 21, and Rafel Jeanne, 24, were found dead in the car off the A48(M) in St Mellons, Cardiff. Sophie Russon, 20, and Shane Loughlin, 32, were discovered badly injured in the wreckage of the VW Tiguan. Russon’s family has said she was conscious for at least some of the time she was trapped and called out for help.
In a joint statement issued by the forces on Tuesday afternoon, they said the two survivors remained in critical condition at University Hospital of Wales and said they believed only one vehicle was involved in the crash.
Spelling out their timeline for the first time, they said:
The last confirmed sighting of the five people was at 2am on Saturday in Pentwyn, about 2.5 miles from where they were found.
The crash happened during the early hours of Saturday, with the exact time to be confirmed by the investigation, including by studying CCTV and automatic number plate recognition footage.
The first missing report was made to Gwent police at 7.34pm on Saturday; further missing person reports were made to Gwent police at 7.43pm and 9.32pm. Another missing person report was made to South Wales police at 5.37pm on Sunday.
At 11.50pm on Sunday the police helicopter was asked to search an area of Cardiff, which resulted in the vehicle being located in a wooded area off the A48.
Gwent police officers, who were in the area conducting inquiries, discovered the Volkswagen Tiguan vehicle at 12.15am on Monday.
Despite police issuing their timeline, there continue to be conflicting claims about how the car was found. A local man, Matthew Pace, whose son Lewis was a friend of Jeanne, said they spotted tyre tracks heading into a thicket as they drove around searching for the five.
Pace said a police officer saw him following the tracks and asked what he had found. “I told them: the car is in here,” Pace said. According to Pace, the officer reported it and the police helicopter was directed to the spot.
The IOPC announced it would investigate police actions after the missing persons reports. David Ford, the IOPC director in Wales, said: “After careful assessment of referrals from Gwent police and South Wales police, we have decided to independently investigate how police responded to the missing person reports.
“We will be examining what information police had, the grading given to any risk assessments, and the steps taken by police to locate the missing people prior to the Volkswagen Tiguan being found just after midnight on Monday. We will also consider what communication took place between the two forces, and whether police action was appropriate.”
The five went missing from Newport in Gwent and the car was found in a thicket shielded from busy roads and housing estates by evergreen trees just across the force border on the outskirts of Cardiff, within South Wales police’s patch.
In a statement released through a solicitor on Tuesday afternoon, the family of Smith said it was an “extraordinarily difficult time”.
They said: “We request that our privacy is respected and we are allowed to grieve in peace. We want to allow Gwent police and South Wales police the time and space to investigate the matter in a thorough and professional way and to enable the Independent Office for Police Conduct thereafter to come to their own conclusions.”
Family and friends continued to visit the spot where the car was found on Tuesday to leave floral tributes, pictures and balloons. One message read: “Darcy Jane Ross. My beautiful daughter. Can’t believe your (sic) gone. Going to miss you so much. Lots of love, Dad. xx.”
More than 1,000 people attended a vigil on Tuesday, on the verge in front of the copse where the car crashed.
Some lit candles in front of a wall of floral tributes. Others carried blue, pink, purple and heart-shaped balloons. Among the crowd were many friends, neighbours, work colleagues and some relatives of those who died or were injured.
So many people turned up that the police had to close the stretch of dual carriageway the car had been travelling along before it veered into the copse. There was a two-minute silence before dozens of fireworks were fired into the night sky, balloons were released and blue and red flares were lit.
Over the weekend, family and friends organised searches but police did not put out a public appeal until 11pm on Sunday. One of the questions families want answered is how officers risk-assessed their reports.
In 2021 Gwent police dealt with 2,869 missing persons incidents, according to data obtained from a freedom of information request. Of those, 408 were assessed as high risk, 2,217 as medium and 244 as low. South Wales police said they received on average more than 8,000 missing person reports every year – more than 20 a day.
The desperation of some of those involved in the search was shown by the fact that some turned to a medium for help. Tamzin Samuels, 20, a carer who took part in the search, said: “We found them before the police found them. We had a psychic medium. She had a feeling it was near bushes and the five were trapped.”
Assistant chief constable Mark Hobrough of Gwent police said: “This is an extremely sad situation, and our thoughts are with the families and friends of each of the young people involved. We will continue to support the investigation and would ask members of the public to refrain from speculation during this period.”
Assistant chief constable Jason Davies of South Wales police said: “Our thoughts continue to be with the families and all those affected by this tragic incident. Specialist officers are carrying out a detailed 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.”
