Heartache over crash twins, 12, killed with mum
A FATHER yesterday paid tribute to his 12-year-old twins after they died with their mother in a car smash.
“They came into this world together and sadly they have gone together,” said Chris Gaskin, 43.
His twins James and Amy died with their mother Jane Baker-Lockett, 43.
They were killed in a head-on collision seen by the twins’ brother Jack, 14, who was in another car being driven by his stepfather Paul Lockett.
Just 24 hours earlier, nine-year-old Keira Ball died after a crash on the same stretch of the A361, near Barnstaple, Devon.
Avionics engineer Mr Gaskin is now trying to comfort his surviving son Jack.
He said: “It is an absolute tragedy – the twins were two fantastic kids who were inseparable.
“Our loss is enormous. It is hard to put into words what has happened.
“But I do know they have left behind a brother who adored them.
“The only positive thing out of this is that they have left this world together.”
The family, from Milton Keynes, were heading towards Barnstaple on holiday when their car was in collision with a Marks & Spencer lorry on Monday morning. Ms Baker-Lockett died at the scene.
Amy was dead on arrival at North Devon Hospital.
James died shortly after arriving at hospital by air ambulance.
The tragedy evoked memories of a crash last year in which a father saw his partner, her two sons and his daughter killed in an accident on the A34 in Berkshire.
Mark Goldsmith was in the car behind when Tracy Houghton, from Dunstable, Bedfordshire, sons Ethan, 13, and Josh, 11, and Amy, 11, were killed by a Polish lorry driver who was using his mobile phone.
In Sunday’s tragedy on the A361 near Barnstaple, nine-year-old Keira Ball’s family’s Vauxhall Vector was in collision with a Ford Ranger 4x4.
Keira, of North Devon, died of her injuries in hospital on Tuesday.
Her mother Loanna and brother Brad, seven, were still receiving treatment in hospital last night.
Keira’s father Joe paid tribute to his “little princess”, adding: “She would light up any room she entered.
“She would give her last anything to anyone.”