Sarah Ann Davies

MY DARLING DAUGHTER, MY SISTER, MY BEST FRIEND, MY SOULMATE

Sarah Ann Davies was taken so tragically and suddenly at 2.46am on Sunday 17th September 2006, after being hit and run over by two cars on the dreadful M25 2nd lane, between junctions 2 and 3, southbound (from Dartford Bridge). She'd already escaped from a car crash being driven by her friend while travelling home from Dartford pub with 2 other friends. The 3 friends survived. She was 19 years, 9 months and 7 days old.

----------------

SEPT 2008 - UPDATE
Romford Recorder, Friday 5th September 2008
Headline -
Jurors weep over deaf teenager tragedy
GIRL DEATH CRASH: NO JAIL FOR DRIVER

The driver who caused a terrifying motorway crash that led to the death of a deaf Romford teenaged girl, has avoided a jail sentence.
Victim Sarah-Ann Davies, of Romford, survived the collision but was hit by another car as she walked into the road to warn other motorists.
Simon Allen, of Edith Road, Canvey Island, (Southend) Essex, was fined £1,500 and banned from driving for two years, by a judge at Maidstone Crown Court on 27th August 2008, after being cleared of dangerous driving, but admitting careless driving.
The jury was not told, until after returning verdicts, that 19-year-old Miss Davies was killed in the incident on the M25 at Darenth, Kent.
The judge said Allen's driving was "lamentable" and had horrific consequences, but added: "The fact is, however, my powers are constrained in the light of the jury's verdict."
The court heard Miss Davies was in a Renault Clio driven by close friend Lauren Smith, then 19, in the early hours of September 17, 2006. Miss Smith's brother Lee was also a passenger. All had hearing problems and travelled to a Dartford pub that held functions for the deaf.
John O'Higgins, prosecuting, said Miss Smith was in the middle lane at 50mph when Allen crashed into the back of her at about 70mph.
He said Allen, 41, did not see the Clio until it was too late.
Both cars came to rest on the central reservation, pointing in the opposite direction. "The case against Mr Allen is that he is responsible for a wholly avoidable collision," said Mr O'Higgins.
The jury had to decide whether it amounted to dangerous driving. The prosecution suggested careless driving was inadequate.
Miss Smith had only held a full licence for seven months and not driven on a motorway before.
Mr O'Higgins said the rear lights were on, making it perfectly visible to Allen. The Clio would have been visible for about 500 metres before the collision.
Allen denied he had been inattentive or distracted. He denied dangerous driving, admitting careless driving.
Mr O'Higgins said Miss Davies had been drinking when she stepped into the motorway in a manner which was completely unforseen after the collision.
"In what may have been an attempt to warn other drivers, she was knocked down," he said. "It falls into the category of an event which was unforseen and not a direct consequence of what happened in this accident. For that reason, the defendant is not charged with causing death by dangerous driving. He falls to be dealt with for the lesser offence of careless driving."
The prosecuter said Allen had criminal convictions, as well as an endorsement for speeding shortly before the crash.
Jurors hearing about the tragedy for the first time wept as they left the court. Miss Smith and other friends and relatives were also distressed.
Peter Clark, defending, said Allen's bad driving had appalling consequences. He had been a lorry driver but gave it up after the crash. He was now an installation engineer.

-----------------

Sarah had only started her first proper job two weeks before, on 1st September 2006, with Parcel Force in Romford. She lived in Romford, Essex almost all her life.

Sarah was born at Barking Hospital on Wednesday morning of 10th December 1986 at 9.40am, a sister to Victoria who was born two months prematurely in March 1985 at the same hospital. They were close in age, 21 months apart, as both were planned to give each other company and grow old together. We'd lived with Sarah's grandparents - my parents, Ivy and Henry Cordes - in Seven Kings from her birth until 3 days before her 1st birthday when Sarah's dad Jay (my first husband and father of Victoria as well) and I moved into our first house in the Mawney area, Romford, with our 2 daughters.

We first found out that Sarah was Deaf on 10th February 1987, when she was exactly 2 months old after a routine hearing test. Followed by a second opinion at the Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital confirmed her profound congential hearing loss. Her parents are Deaf too but Victoria is hearing. The cause of both Jay and my deafness were unknown at that time apart from the story of Rubella that our mothers contracted during pregnancies in the early sixties. They believed at that time that Rubella caused deafness. As I am profoundly Deaf from birth myself, with encouragment from my hearing family to talk without signing prompted me to teach Sarah to develop her vocals from a very early age to help strengthen her speech and pronounce words for the hearing to understand as she got older. I am glad it paid off as Sarah learned to talk singular words from about 18 months old and went on to speak well with the use of her hearing aids. Sarah started at a school for the Deaf in South Woodford, East London, in September 1989 at the age of 2 years and 9 months. Sadly the school had to close down in July 1990, after 40 years which broke my heart as it was also my school from the ages of 3 to 16. The next school Sarah went to was a local unit for Hearing Impaired at Hacton School in Hornchurch, Essex, which was an intergration of deaf and hearing children. From there, she met twins Lee and Lauren Smith, Gary Cutmore, Shelly-Ann Pye, Mandy Briden and Alex Wood who all went on to become Sarah's firm and best buddies right up to Sarah's departure from this life.

Jay and I parted in 1991 and divorced in 1992, and having sold our house during that time, the girls lived with me alone in a rented house in Horndon Road until I started seeing Andrew in May 1992 and we married exactly a year later in May 1993, with both girls as our bridesmaids. Sarah called Andrew 'Dad' almost from the start and insisted on adopting his surname when she was still only 6 years old. We moved into our own house just down the road two months later in August 1993, after our return from a two-week holiday in Florida, and it's become a home filled with so much love, laughter, ups & downs and memories and a home that Sarah loved very, very much for the next 13 years of her life.

Andrew and I have since given Victoria and Sarah two brothers, both now 12 and 10. * SEPT 2008 now 14 & 12 *. When I was expecting Adam, Sarah wanted a brother so much and it came true for her when Adam was born at Rush Green Hospital in March 1994. Her reason for wanting a brother was to teach and play football with him! Sarah was even more happier when Connor came along in December 1995 at Harold Wood Hospital.


After Hacton, Sarah went to Mill Hall Primary School (now renamed Mary Hare Primary School) for the Deaf in Newbury, Berkshire - in October 1997 when she was in Year 6 (aged 10/11) - her second school for the Deaf since the Sir Winston Churchill Primary School for the Deaf closed down seven years earlier. Mill Hall was a weekly residential school which meant that Sarah stayed at the school 4 nights and 3 nights at home a week, so it gave her a good balance of home and school life. One year later, after passing her entrance exam, Sarah got a place at the Mary Hare Grammar School for Year 7. This secondary school was a termly boarding school, which meant seeing less of Sarah at home. Looking back, it gave Sarah mixed feelings of homesickness and enjoying boarding school life with many Deaf friends and I only wished that a compromise was made at the time between Mary Hare and our LEA (Local Education Authority) to enable Sarah to continue her education at Mary Hare for the next 4 years.

I wont go into detail here, but that was the beginning of Sarah's 'downfall' for the next 2 years. Changing schools again - this time our LEA refused to give us our option of sending Sarah to a different weekly residential school for the Deaf so it was Sanders Draper mainstream school in Hornchurch as a last choice, as our LEA told us. By then, I was more concerned for Sarah's happiness so I went along with their decision, which would mean having Sarah at home everyday and keeping an eye on her progress in mainstream education - which was totally against my principles to be taught in a true Deaf educational setting.

Before long, I began to notice the change in Sarah - at first we put it down to adolescence, a typical teenage growing up - but I soon saw the different side of Sarah, withdrawn and unhappy. I wasn't having any of that to happen to any of my children so with my patience and determination, I was able to eventually get through to Sarah's innermost troubles - and get her to open up to me. My fears were confirmed - the root of her problems was due to loneliness and rejection at the hearing school, despite having a 'Hearing impaired' unit and only 6 Deaf friends to content with during breaktimes - but where were the proper deaf teaching support, interacting with a deaf class, deaf awareness??! One of the other problems was being bullied by the hearing pupils, which the school failed to address. Communicators often took on the 'teaching roles' that I disagreed with.

Sarah was self-harming herself several times by then. That started the 5-month dispute between myself and the LEA in which I kept Sarah at home for her own safety and making my staunch to have Sarah transferred to a school for the Deaf as soon as possible. The LEA caved in after the statement panel meeting in April 2001 and by June 2001, Sarah went to Ovingdean Hall School in Brighton, Sussex. It wasn't a good start to begin with but with the brilliant support from Mrs Bown, the school's Deputy Principal, she gave Sarah 110 per cent and soon we began to see the sweet old Sarah personality resurfacing - with the help of once-a-week counselling sessions she'd had for a year.

I will always be grateful to Mrs Bown for her paramount faith in Sarah and will never ever forget her. Sarah left Ovingdean in Spring 2003, with only one English GCSE grade C to her name. I told Sarah that it didn't matter anymore, referring to her educational qualifications, as she had the rest of her life to prove herself by achieving far bigger things as she went along.

By summer 2003, football changed her life - for the better! Sarah joined Fulham Deaf Ladies football team and in November 2003, she came home with the good news! She was told that she was offered to take part in the selection process for the Great Britain Deaf Ladies Football squad and partipicating in the 2005 Deaflympics in Melbourne, Australia. We were so excited for Sarah - but....the only one regret I have now is never have been able to watch her play for Fulham. Apart from watching her play for Great Britain of course, it was too big an opportunity to miss!

In March 2004, Sarah got a letter from Sharon Hirshman, the then GB manager, offering Sarah a place with GB Deaf Ladies team who'd already won a place in the Deaflympics for the following winter! That was fantastic news! The best news ever to happen to Sarah - come to think of it now, in her short life. All the family were soooo proud of her!

Come December 26th 2004, we all flew out to Melbourne Australia - me, Andrew, Victoria, Adam and Connor met up with Sarah and the whole of the GB mens and womens squads on the connecting flights from Dubai/Singapore/Melbourne at 2am in the morning! Going to Australia was well worth every penny. Sometimes in life, you follow your instincts and go for it. That's exactly what I did for my family and for Sarah - just simply took out a loan to pay for the holiday of a lifetime and to give our wholehearted support for Sarah. Life is too short, which is exactly what has happened to my beautiful daughter - sadly.

More to follow.