A mother who spent hours searching for her missing daughter who was involved in a fatal car crash in Wales has criticised police after allegedly being told to “stop calling for updates”.
oncerns were raised after three women and two men went missing over the weekend in Cardiff, with family and friends of the group making repeated appeals to locate them.
The women, Sophie Russon, Eve Smith and Darcy Ross, were seen travelling in a Volkswagen Tiguan with two men, Rafel Jeanne, and Shane Loughlin. They were last seen at around 2am in Cardiff.
According to reports, Ms Smith, Ms Ross and Mr Jeanne were killed in the crash while Ms Russon and Mr Loughlin remain in hospital.
Prior to Ms Russon being located, her mother Anna Certowicz was driving around Gwent and Cardiff in a desperate search for her – claiming Gwent Police told her to “stop ringing” the station for updates.
She told the Daily Mail: “They didn’t seem to care. I had to drive to Cardiff to knock on doors myself because they were doing [nothing]. 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.”
She added that the three women have known each other since childhood and are “incredibly close”.
The family of Ms Smith confirmed the 21-year-old was one of three who died in the crash.
Her older sibling Lauren Doyle wrote on Facebook: “I will not comment on anyone other than Eve Smith to confirm that she has been confirmed as deceased... please allow us some time as a family to digest this terrible news.”
Another friend also paid tribute to Ms Smith and the two other victims. He said: “Gutted and shocked to wake up to the news that Eve Smith and two others have passed away.” He recalled “a kindhearted strong woman”.
According to family and friends of the victims who were leading search appeals on social media, the five were undiscovered for 48 hours before being found. Officers believe the car was involved in a road traffic collision and came off the A48 trunk road but it is not clear exactly when that happened.
The road had been closed in both directions, near to the Cardiff Garden Centre, by the police.
Photographs from the scene show large green fencing and tarpaulin put up around the crash site, which is among trees.
Firefighters were seen carrying stretchers and cutting equipment towards the car yesterday morning.
The car was removed on a flatbed truck at lunchtime after a private ambulance arrived to carry away the dead.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct confirmed it was investigating Gwent Police’s handling of the case.
