The widow of a 'keen astronomer' who was killed on a smart motorway has sent his ashes into space. Claire Mercer, who has been campaigning for the roads to be banned since husband Jason's death four years ago, says he would have 'loved' the send off.
Jason, 44, died alongside Alexandru Murgeanua, 22, after they were hit by a lorry on a stretch of the M1 which doesn't have a hard shoulder. They had stopped in the left-hand lane to exchange insurance details in June 2019 following a minor collision near Sheffield, South Yorks.
Lorry driver Prezemyslaw Zbigniew Szuba was jailed for ten months after admitting two counts of causing death by driving without due care and attention. Claire, 47, said: "Jason was a keen astronomer and had a very large telescope in the garden and had a life feed from Nasa running to his computer.
