Baby Ace: Holly Wells cousin Thomas Allen killed in freak accident with gypsy horses

Friday, March 14, 2014

Holly Wells cousin Thomas Allen killed in freak accident with gypsy horses

By

Ted Thornhill

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Tragedy has struck the family of murdered schoolgirl Holly Wells again with a court hearing how her cousin was killed when he smashed into gypsy horses running loose on a road.

Thomas Allen, 23, was driving home with his girlfriend to see his family on Christmas Eve 2012 when he struck horses that had escaped from their field near Ipswich.

He was rushed to hospital but died on Christmas day.

Thomas

Tragic: Thomas Allen (left), 23, was killed when he ploughed into stray gypsy horses near Ipswich on Christmas Eve 2012 while pictured right is his wrecked car after the accident

It was the second devastating tragedy to hit the family after Holly, 10, was brutally killed by evil Ian Huntley in August 2002 in a crime which stunned the nation.

The horses belonged to gypsy Stacy Humphrys, 27, who was jailed for 28 months on Thursday for failing to keep the animals secured despite being warned that they posed a danger.

Thomas, who would have been just 13 when Holly was murdered, ploughed into the beasts in pitch darkness on the A14 at 10.20pm.

Holly’s parents, Kevin Wells, 50, and his wife, Nicola, 47, went to court to support Thomas’s devastated family.

Judge John Devaux told Humphrys his horses had escaped repeatedly in the weeks before the tragedy and he had been warned they were a danger.

Thomas was driving along the westbound carriageway of the A14 at Sproughton, near Ipswich, Suffolk, with his girlfriend when his car hit one of five stray horses.

Critically-injured Thomas, of Soham, near Ely, Cambridgeshire, was taken to Ipswich Hospital but died on Christmas Day.

Story that shocked the nation: Holly Wells (left) and her best friend, Jessica Chapman, both 10, were murdered by Ian Huntley in 2002

Guilty: Stacy Humphrys, 27, was jailed for 28 months for failing to keep his horses secured

In an emotion-charged victim impact statement read to Ipswich Crown Court, his mother Lesley Allen described the heartache of having to tell her 14-year old daughter on Christmas Day that her big brother had died.

But Mrs Allen, sister of Nicola Wells, said that they were proud that four seriously-ill people had received life-saving transplants as a result of the family’s brave decision to donate Thomas’s organs.

Humphrys, of West Meadows gipsy site, Ipswich, admitted causing a public nuisance by allowing his horses to stray on to the A14.

Judge Devaux accepted that fencing at the disused British Sugar site at Sproughton, where the animals were kept, could have been tampered with.

But he told Humphrys that people who kept horses had a ‘general duty of care’ to keep them secure and prevent them getting out and running amok.

Judge Devaux told the traveller: ‘This is not a case of being wise after the event.

‘You were well aware from previous and recent escapes that the site was unsuitable for keeping animals.’

He said Humphrys had been warned by police following earlier escapes but he’d done nothing.

‘You were warned they were a hazard and this was an accident waiting to happen,’ declared Judge Devaux.

Family bond: Holly

Family bond: Holly’s mum and dad, Kevin and Nicola (left) were in court to support their relatives, Graham and Lesley Allen (middle)

As well as Thomas’s death, six people were injured, three horses were killed and four vehicles badly damaged in the carnage.

Nick Staite, prosecuting, said Humphrys had kept a herd of between 30 and 50 horses that had been ‘fly-grazing’ close to the A14.

Mr Staite said a number of drivers had seen horses galloping along an unlit stretch of the A14 narrowly missing shocked motorists just before the deadly Christmas Eve tragedy.

Paul Donegan, defending, said Humphrys had expressed ‘remorse’ for the horror smash and had co-operated with the authorities.

Life sentence: Ian Huntley is serving a sentence of at least 40 years for the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman

Mr Donegan said he’d since acted to make the site more secure.

He told the court: ‘He can’t say with certainty how and when the horses escaped but he accepts they did and that the responsibility lies with him and no-one else.’

Thomas’s shattered family said in a statement after seeing Humphrys jailed: ‘There is no relief or happiness here today, our loss is just as strong as it was on Christmas Day 2012.

‘Nothing can take away the total devastation and pain we feel.

‘Our lives will carry on but they will not be as we had planned.

‘Thomas is not with us any more and he should be here living his life and fulfilling all his goals and dreams.

‘This accident should never have happened.’

They added: ‘Tom was not doing anything wrong – he was just travelling home to his family for Christmas and sadly he never arrived.

‘All we, his family, have now are cherished memories of him.

‘Tom’s future has gone and ours has changed and nothing can make that better.

‘We will carry on rebuilding our lives without Thomas and at least now we have some kind of closure.’

Sgt Bob Patterson, of Suffolk Police’s Serious Collision Investigation Team, said after the case: ‘This was a truly horrific collision which resulted in the loss of a young man’s life.

‘It was compounded by the fact that a family lost their loved one on Christmas Day.

‘I hope that Stacy Humphrys’ guilty plea and sentencing will provide some comfort to Thomas’s family who have waited over a year for this day to come.’

Thomas was just 13 when his younger cousin Holly Wells was savagely murdered along with her friend Jessica Chapman, also 10, in August 2002.

Popular schoolgirl Holly lived near Thomas in the little village of Soham and they grew up together in a tight-knit family.

Ian Huntley, a caretaker at Soham Village College, was convicted in December 2003 of the girls’ murders and jailed for at least 40 years.