HEROIC Rachael Martin’s father has told how he rushed to Birmingham Children’s Hospital after being contacted at work and told his granddaughter had been rushed there.
Bill Simpson arrived expecting to see Rachael at young Keira’s side – only to be given the earth-shattering news that his daughter was dead.
Holding his wife Susan’s hand as he falteringly read his statement in court, he said he was working around Stratford that morning, and stopped off at Rachael’s home to see her at around 11am, but there was no answer.
“I then had a text from my work saying to contact the police or my wife. My daughter Emma answered the phone and told me there had been an accident involving my daughter and my granddaughter, and to go to Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
“On getting there, a police officer informed me of the death of my daughter. The shock to me was overwhelming. I thought Rachel was at the hospital looking after Keira.
“To be told your child is dead is totally overpowering to the mind and body. I was so overwhelmed with grief.
“But my grief for Rachael had to be suppressed for the sake of little Keira. I went over to Keira and held her hand, and the first thing she said to me was ‘Mummy saved me.’”
Mr Simpson said that for the two-and-a-half months Keira was in hospital, he and his wife made sure she was never on her own, with one of them always at her side, adding that the two little girls now live with them.
He comforted his wife Susan as she tearfully told the court: “I can’t put into words the sorrow I feel at the loss of our beautiful daughter.
“Since the accident I feel we have been living in a nightmare from which we cannot wake.
“The impact on the family has been tremendous. Rachel was a very loving mother, and the children miss her deeply.
“We cry every day for Rachael’s life being cut short at 29. She will never see them in a school play or see them grow up.”
