Sad news.

[rosiedoes]

Yesterday, I heard from a dear friend of many years - someone I have known since we were in our mid-teens and used to speak to on the phone for hours a night, and were so close we would fall asleep holding hands. In January, her mother, someone I knew well, was killed in an accident. She was only 63, and Vicky was an only child. She's moved home to live with her stepdad for a while, so he's not by himself.

They're both absolutely devastated.

This article from a local newspaper explains what happened. I hope the man responsible is stabbed in the throat with a sharpened toothbrush, in prison.

A HORSE rider was killed after being hit by a van while she was out on a morning ride.

Jane Mitchinson, 63, of The Close, Brentwood, was on her horse with a friend in Ashwells Road, Pilgrim Hatch, when a white Toyota van collided with them at 9.50am on Sunday.

Ms Mitchinson, who was secretary of the Brentwood and District Talking Newspaper, was thrown from her horse into a nearby ditch by the collision.

Roads had to closed in the area while rescue services attended the scene but despite their best efforts, paramedics and a doctor from Essex Air Ambulance pronounced Ms Mitchinson dead at the scene.

Along with the inuries sustained by the fall, Ms Mitchinson also suffered a cardiac arrest which was believed to have been caused from chest injuries from the incident.

The other rider, a Brentwood man, was thrown off his saddle and treated by paramedics at the scene and taken to Queens Hospital, in Romford, with minor injuries.

Both horses were also flung into the ditch with one dying at the scene while the other had to be put down later on because of it’s injuries.

The 51-year-old driver of the van was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and has been released on bail until March 19 while enquiries continue.

Ms Mitchinson, who also volunteered with the Brentwood University of the Third Age, leaves a partner and a daughter – tributes have poured in to her from members of the Brentwood community.

Comments

[anjak-j.livejournal.com]

I hope the man responsible is stabbed in the throat with a sharpened toothbrush, in prison.

I don't. I hope he spends every day of the rest of his life being tortured by what he did, seeing the face of her husband and daughter and the grandkids that will never know their grandmother because of his recklessness - preferably from behind the bars of a prison cell.

The sick thing is, if he even goes to jail, it won't be for long. So maybe him being stabbed in the throat would offer more justice for this family than our pitiful excuse for a justice system.

[rosiedoes.livejournal.com]

That's the thing; people who kill people by dangerous or reckless driving are treated so leniently. Jane wasn't just Vicky's mum, or Peter's partner, she was an absolute pillar of the community. Her death is such a huge loss to those who knew her and whose work helped others - she was involved with an organisation which, as I understand it, provided sort of audiobooks of newspapers, so that those with sight difficulties could listen to them, among others.

The bastard that did this deserves to be punished properly.

[anjak-j.livejournal.com]

The whole situation is just so sad, and it really infuriates me that all the people dealing with her loss are going to get hit again when they don't get the justice they all deserve.

I really hope that people step up, in Jane's memory, to continue all the great things she did for her community. She sounds like she was a really amazing woman.

[returntosender.livejournal.com]

Please pass my condolences on to Vicky. That is so horrible.

[rosiedoes.livejournal.com]

Will do, hon. She's going to come down and stay with us soon, to have a little break from being around the family home. Maybe sometime in spring/summer, when you ladies come down, we could all get together then.

[pionie.livejournal.com]

Gosh that is sad. *hugs*

[rosiedoes.livejournal.com]

Thanks, hon. I'm naturally very sad about this, but the greater part is on Vicky's behalf. It's a shock for me, and so difficult to believe - I can't imagine how awful it must be for her and for Peter. Especially as Vicky is an only child.

[verying.livejournal.com]

That is so horrific. I agree with you that people who kill through carelessness aren't punished enough.

Complete disregard for the safety of other human being because you just can't be arsed is, in some ways, even more disgusting than deliberately harming someone.

I'm so sorry for your friend and all the people who loved her mother. What a tragedy.

[rosiedoes.livejournal.com]

Thanks, hon. I really hope that they receive some justice in all of this...

[lillystars.livejournal.com]

This post was so close to another unrelated post that I thought without seeing the headline that it was the same, so I've only just really 'seen' it. :(

I'm terribly sorry. It's not only your friend and her father's lost but also yours. I can't even, just, so sorry. Are you able to go to your friend and her stepfather for a little bit?

[rosiedoes.livejournal.com]

Thanks, hon.

I don't think they need me there so much as Vicky needs some time away. She's going to come down and stay with me and my housemate for a couple of days, soon.

[lillystars.livejournal.com]

It will be good for the both of you to be able to give each other the kind of support that is different from family. And I hope the two of you can find old and new memories to make you smile - it will be healing.

[rosiedoes.livejournal.com]

Although I'm very sad about the news, it's more for Vicky than my own loss. Jane was lovely, but she wasn't my mum, y'know?

Vicky and I have been friends for nearly half our lives, though, and I know that spending time here would be good for her.

Thanks for your support, hon.