Girl’s family visit horror-crash scene

Driver Shaya Leigh, 18, was pronounced dead at the scene alongside the A419 on the outskirts of Swindon early on Saturday.

Passenger Kerrylee O’Leary-Staniford, 17, was taken to the town’s Great Western Hospital, where she later died.

Three men, all aged 20 and from Swindon, were all seriously injured when the Renault Clio plunged into undergrowth.

Two of the three men, taken to Frenchay Hospital, Bristol, remained in a critical condition yesterday. A third man was described as stable after the accident which happened at 5am.

Police cordoned off a northbound section of the A419 to allow Shaya’s mother and other family members to lay a floral tribute.

Inspector Paul Longden, who escorted the relatives, said: “We have appointed family liaison officers to help the families through this terrible time and Shaya’s family asked their officer if they could go to the place where the car left the road.

“The family spent about 25 minutes at the scene.”

The accident saw three of the party of five violently thrown from the car in a crash which police described as “horrific”.

Shocked friends were quick to take to social networking sites such as Twitter to express their grief and pay tribute.

Shannon Deacon tweeted: “RIP Kerry Staniford and Shaya, both taken way too soon. Thoughts are with your families.”

Police have appealed to the public not to stop along the A419 because of the risk of a serious accident on the busy dual carriageway, which has a 70mph speed limit.

Details filtering out through social media sites in the wake of the accident suggest the girls, and possibly the male passengers, had earlier been to a party.