| Location | Romford |
| Age | 19 years |
| Cause of Death | Road Traffic Collision |
| Date of Birth | 10/12/1986 |
| Date of Death | 17/09/2006 |
| Visitors | 21,317 since 15/11/2006 |
| Creator | |
| Helpers |
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.
My angel
I came across to this website 2nite and read what louise wrote! :D really sweet of her, Louise has been staying at Marlies with me.
It is true indeed, that cannot stop talking abt you all da times!!!!..i talk to everyone about you, and everyone is talking abt you anyway!!
U know i am having difficulty of accepting that yr actually not here with us, I know i have to accept it so dat i can move on in my life but i dnt want to...Id rather you in my life, cos u have made me so happy for 10 months (even thou at times i was annoyed with you but i take that back...cos that was nothing really!!!) compared to this pain of not having you here with us anymore - what can i say...it is very painful in our heart, it is like the heart is broken completely and i am having to pick up the pieces.
Bear in the mind, none of these r yr faults - its the bad drivers!!!!!
I will make sure that the drivers get what they derseves!! i believe in karmas so dnt woz about it.. we all are doing what we can....we wont let them get away with it! I am so angry at them to be honest, i want to see their faces and spit at their faces and scream what rights do they have to live!!!
O baby, i so want to hold u in my arms again and never let you go again. That would make me soo happy but knowing i cant have that anymore hurt me so much. I only wanted you and still do. There is no one that matches up to you, Sarah Ann Davies!!! i doubt pretty much i will meet someone who i will love that much again. My belief in love is kinda blurring at the moment. Cos when i first met you, i believed in it straight away for the first time ever in my life and it led us on an beautiful jounery together! We have always said dat didnt we, and dat we couldnt imaagine a life wivout each other.
We have met for a reason - to learn!! hehe! i guess we both were pretty stuborn so god decided 2 put us together but....He was right! However hard work the relationship of ours were, we stil loved eac other at the end!!!...It was a well taught relationship between us, it made us better people afterwards! i never forget this.....
We have said often 2 each other dat how lucky we were to meet each other and it must have been fate. Remember we mentioned that even if we splited up we still have our lines crosses to bump again all the times!! and we called it fate thingy!
I really hpe i will see you one day up there, please remember that. Knowing that your up there will wait for me will help me to move on and do things in my life that i have to do.
I dnt want to be with anyone - there is no way i can be with any1 at the moment. I am too scared and beside there is none beta to be with eh?!....only jus want YOU! but i have to accept it that it wont happen and it hurts. However having to accept it, it wil help me to move on. It is like no win situation this one! I guess i am not ready anyway by da sound of it...Why does life have to be like this?
I am so pleasd u love da ballonnnnnnnssss!! it was such a beautiful moment when we set the ballons up in da air...we all looked at them til they were gone to you. U loved anyfin that was fancy! - i guess i knew u 2 well. U prob be surprised right?!...dats how much i love you!.....:-(
Da pain in my heart is like.. very very heavy. I have never had that before, wouldnt wish to have it again. It is abslo horrid situation dat i wouldnt wish on anyone.
I am there for yr family and best friends in every steps - as i have promised you. It has nt been easy on any of them, sometimes i dont know what to say...but i hpe they understand dat at times i dnt know what to say cos i am not very good at expressing my feelings at times!! (as you know!) but i am trying my every best for them ok?
I believe there is an afterlife, as i know yr around for sure!...i will always keep me mind open for you. I have seen the meduims few times, receieved few mges from you...(really sweet of you an i wil never forget dat u kissed me forehead and gave me da red rose)...as meduim said.
Slept in yr bed the other day, felt weird when i got in... but once i was fast asleep i was ok. Next morning i woken up abit happier, Maybe you came into the bed with me and cuddled me again...(i hpe SO!) but i felt alot closer to you afterwards. It was really nice of yr mum to let me to sleep in yr bed......and yr mum has been calling me her daughter in law which is really sweet. Yr mum said, how can she forget sarah and kavos relationship!...it was really sweet of her to say that...we were very special togeta werent we?
YR amazing - da advices you gave me...i am starting to take them now!..yr right, i didnt ave any beliefs in myself...u did. U stuck with me all the way through, thank you so much baby. I know i was a diffcult person in the past, only recently i have realised dat years of pain were inside me....and you were right about that.
So.....I have decided this....yr da first person to know about it.... i am gona 2 travel round da world next year!!! :D
Starting on yr bday next year and dnt u woz i will visit america as well!.....last nite i was sleeping..and suddenly thought of it after cing the meduim.
I fort..xxxx it, let DO it!!!!! U wil be damn pleasd 2 hear it right?!
Love you forever and forever!
missing you so much xxxxxx
Take that
Hey Sarah, jus wanna say me and Kavo had so many great conversations, and in every each of them, your name is mentioned. I just wished that you would have finally got the courage and danced after all the movements that we have been teaching you in nightclubs.
Speaking of music, I have watched this concert on TV, and Take That was on tv, i thought of you immediately and knew you are watching it and probably dancing, lol. We have always had all those great times together. Love you always. xXx
sarah and my dad
Hey mate thought i add other tribute for you to see how you and my dad getting on, i finally plucked the courage to do a site for my dad him being gone so soon so that im keeping my memories for you both alive. please keep looking down on all of us that would be good!!
Love always laura xxxx
Sarah, Sarah, Sarah!!!
Darling,
I still keep calling out your name as have always done for the past 20 years - to get your attention! This time in the hope for some positive sign from you, maybe a touch/tap on my shoulder for me to look round and find it's no-one there, then I will know you're still around and up to the usual stuff around the home! That's all I want from you to give me total faith and belief that afterlife do exist and shall count my days til I meet you again and will never ever let you go.
As you can see from your beautiful website, Bebo, etc, such wonderful tributes from everyone - shows you how lucky you are to have them in your life and how much you're loved. You gave me, your family and friends so much love and humour. Thank you for your lovely friends to keep in touch with me and keep me sane, can't imagine life without them either. I am eternally grateful to have a Deaf daughter in my life, it is part of your Legacy to me. I am so proud of you my heart could burst!
I shall carry on writing about you in this website as I've got so much to tell about your wonderful 19 years of your life, though I do wish very badly that I would have another 40 years with you, Victoria, Adam and Connor together and I'll be the first to go naturally.
I love you with all my heart and commit myself to keeping your Memory well and truly alive!
Mummy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Want to tell u something
God! i cant believe how many people know u very well and sweetheart! U r my best friend 4ever and i know u can see me what i do, i know i did something bad but i will doin get better and u made me feel hit alots!.. I know iven't been there4 u and make me really really hurts when u gone, I wantd2 seein u in god one day! I'll put light a candle on mean i gotta promise u and any info about u, i'll be there for u 4ever!:')
All my family and I alway thinkin of u so much! Love u always xxxx
memories
I'll keep this short cause I tend to ramble a bit but here goes...
Sarah, I remember when I first met you when we were in Hacton and then I remember all the memories that I had with you. Yes I never hung out with you much but when we did I treasured it. The last time I saw you was a few weeks before you died. We chatted about my birthday in october and when you had to go I hugged you and that hug I will never ever forget. I remember the times when I went to your house or I went to one of your parties. I am sorry that I never got to know you better but I am so proud of you and proud of what you have done for so many people and how far you've come. I will never forget you!.
When I found out I didnt believe it at first all I felt was numb disbelief followed by tears I was a walking daze for weeks.
miss you so much Sarah! so does my sister Serena she sends her condolences to you guys her friends and family!
Tamsin xXx
Dear Sarah
:D I did not know about this site until now. I went on to read some of these lovely messeges, how many friends and family are missing you. Seeing all your pictures, bless, you are so amazingly pretty... and you were always lovely to me when i saw you. Anyway, i hope the angels are looking after you. Hello Diane, Vic and the rest of the family...i hope your doing good and my heart is always with yous. Mwah x x x x
we miss you
even though we haven't met you you sound like a nice girl we wish that we could have met you so don't worri we wnt forget ur always in our hearts we love you lots r.i.p
Love You
Hey you!!
You still looking down over me?? When u gonna give me a poke to say hello?? Missing you badly..I don't know if the horrible feeling in my chest will ever go away. I can't believe that I may never see you again, it hurts far too much. Just give me a sign that you are around us, even though we can't see you, and it will ease the pain a bit. I hope that you can see my new flat, and are jealous of it up there (you always said you would be the first to move out and get your own place at 16- na na I'm first!!). Keep wondering how many times you would have turned up at the flat unexpectedly to chat or quickly borrow clothes, like you've done before. I really miss that!! I miss catching up with you after we haven't seen each other for a while, and hearing about you going out in London and staying at friends. I miss catching you in your ParcelForce uniform before work, and having lunch together. I miss telling you to close your mouth and eat slower cos you ate noisily sometimes and didn't realise it haha. I miss just sitting watching the telly with you on the sofa with your legs on me- usually catching up on Corrie or Emmerdale lol. I miss texting you and not getting a reply for ages, then texting you again to tell you off or say you're out of order, and demanding you text back straight away (and even after that sometimes you wouldn't text back!!).
I miss watching you straighten your hair and get pissed off so I would have to take over. You were so fussy- you have lovely hair!!! I miss hearing you whistle in the house. Sometimes Adam will whistle (he can't whistle properly, same as you!!) and I think it is you cos it sounds the same!
I miss your fantastic hand massages- no-one has ever done it the same as you.
Your memory is so fresh in my mind, I will never let it fade. I think about you all the time. I'm gonna miss not growing up together and growing old together. I'm gonna miss not seeing you have a famly, or get married, build your own future- and I miss not sharing mine with you.
Our pact will always remain- me, you, Ad and Connor WILL always be close and never lose touch like many families.
You will always be part of our lives and have an influence on our lives.
I will always hurt and won't quite be complete without you, but I'm a better person for having had you in my life.
Love you always Sis. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
RIP Sarah Ann Davies
We met in 2001 at Ovingdean Hall School, I remmy u came pver and chatted to me as i was also a new student there (went into fe), when my friend told me u had passed away i went numb for almost a week and couldnt believe that you had passed away. i remember Sarah as a charming, chatty, kind young lady with a lot going for her xx god bless Darling, may you be happy in heaven xxxxx
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