Loughborough man's appeal after vandal attack led to wife's death in car crash
A husband was robbed of his "beautiful wife" by a vandal who damaged her tyre, causing her to crash.
John Smith, from Loughborough, spoke last night after police revealed that the crash which killed his wife Joanna was due to vandalism.
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Joanna Smith with husband John. Her death in a crash was the result of vandalism
Police are treating her death as manslaughter after forensic tests showed the tyre on her Honda Jazz was punctured deliberately.
Mr Smith said: "I want the person or people responsible for this to be caught.
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"Whoever did this to the tyre of Joanna's car robbed me of a beautiful wife and her family and friends of a wonderful person.
"I would appeal to anyone who knows anything about who did this to contact the police immediately."
Polish-born Joanna, 32, died in a crash on the eastbound A45, near Earls Barton, Northamptonshire, on April 10.
She is thought to have been unaware of the vandalism when she set off for work.
Mr Smith, who recently joined the news team at the Leicester Mercury, said he met his wife, a pharmacist, in 2007.
They got married on July 23 last year. The couple lived in Northampton.
He said: "Joanna was a wonderful person. The people who did this may not have meant to cause her death but they did."
Detective Chief Inspector Martin Kinchin, from the East Midlands special operations unit major crime team, said: "While investigating the incident that led to Joanna's death, our collision investigation team established it was likely that tyre failure caused a loss of control of the car.
"The tyres from Joanna's car were sent to specialists, who concluded one of them had been deliberately punctured."
Officers were informed by members of the public that three other vehicles parked near the Honda had sustained tyre damage at the same time.
Det Chief Insp Kinchin said: "After being informed Joanna's tyre had been deliberately damaged, coupled with the other three incidents in the area where Joanna lived, we contacted the Crown Prosecution Service.
"Following its feedback we are now investigating the collision as manslaughter.
"We do not believe Joanna was specifically targeted, but was the tragic victim of senseless vandalism.
"Although we do not believe the person who damaged Joanna's car set out to cause her death, their actions had a very serious outcome.
"We believe someone knows who the offender is and would ask them to think about the impact Joanna's death has had on her family and friends, and ask them to give us any information they may have."
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or the Operation Houston team on 101.
Comments
by neilalex
Thursday, September 27 2012, 1:33PM
“Nevermind manslaughter, the scumbag responsible for this should be sent down for murder.”
by burnmw1987
Thursday, September 27 2012, 12:40PM
“@sansue - "I can't drive a car for more than 50 yards without noticing a flat or deflated tyre, you can feel by the way the car behaves" - This depends entirely upon which tyre it is and in fact what car it is that you are in.”
by DonHenson
Wednesday, September 26 2012, 5:28PM
“One could just as easily make reference to drunken vandalism - something I often see on the forecourt of a local petrol station, incidentally.
What's relevant is that this seems to have been an act of vandalism, and if anyone knows who did it, they should report the fact.
Other than passing on messages of condolence to the husband, there seems little else constructive to say.”
by DonHenson
Wednesday, September 26 2012, 5:28PM
“One could just as easily make reference to drunken vandalism - something I often see on the forecourt of a local petrol station, incidentally.
What's relevant is that this seems to have been an act of vandalism, and if anyone knows who did it, they should report the fact.
Other than passing on messages of condolence to the husband, there seems little else constructive to say.”
by DonHenson
Wednesday, September 26 2012, 5:28PM
“One could just as easily make reference to drunken vandalism - something I often see on the forecourt of a local petrol station, incidentally.
What's relevant is that this seems to have been an act of vandalism, and if anyone knows who did it, they should report the fact.
Other than passing on messages of condolence to the husband, there seems little else constructive to say.”
by Surrey_Fox
Wednesday, September 26 2012, 4:14PM
“They lived in Northampton and the crash was in Northamptonshire so why are people making reference to getting a long way? The man was originally from Loughborough according to the report he doesn't live there now.
A very tragic event this that makes you realise how lucky you are as this could have been anyone.”
by Surrey_Fox
Wednesday, September 26 2012, 4:14PM
“They lived in Northampton and the crash was in Northamptonshire so why are people making reference to getting a long way? The man was originally from Loughborough according to the report he doesn't live there now.
A very tragic event this that makes you realise how lucky you are as this could have been anyone.”
by Surrey_Fox
Wednesday, September 26 2012, 4:14PM
“They lived in Northampton and the crash was in Northamptonshire so why are people making reference to getting a long way? The man was originally from Loughborough according to the report he doesn't live there now.
A very tragic event this that makes you realise how lucky you are as this could have been anyone.”
by Graham_LE8
Wednesday, September 26 2012, 3:41PM
“@ MacMonkey74; My point was one of a general nature in the way that society seems to accept and dismiss a certain degree of youthful bad behaviour as pranks, when in fact there can be serious and irreversible outcomes. I do not know if this tyre damage was committed by youngsters or not.
@ Sansue - I could have had a similar experience some time ago, having found items placed to puncture my and some of my neighbours car tyres - if that is the case here too, it's possible Joanna's tyre could have been pierced without her knowledge, only to have suffered a sudden deflation at speed once the movement of the vehicle dislodged the object concerned, so it's entirely possible for her to have driven unaware of the danger...”
by sansue
Wednesday, September 26 2012, 3:30PM
“"sansue - she got a long way before the car crashed so the tyre probably had not deflated after being punctured but more likely suffered a sudden blow out which caused her to crash as a direct result of the damage to the tyre."
Hi, sorry, I wasn't suggesting that this is what happened in this incident, it just was a related comment. You also see people doing 80 on the motorway on space saver spare wheels, which is just madness!”