'I gave birth to my baby boy - then had to identify my parents' bodies'
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A woman has described having to identify her parents' bodies, just hours after she gave birth. Emma Johnson received the news that her parents, Ian and Gail Gale, had been killed in a car crash just before she was due to give birth. Only eight hours after her son, Jacob, was born, Emma identified her parents in the hospital morgue. In a tragic twist, she had been estranged from her father for many years.
Last month at Leicester Crown Court, Simarjeet Singh, 35, was found guilty of causing the deaths of Gail Gale, 58, and Ian Gale, 64, by careless driving, two counts of causing death by driving while uninsured and two counts of causing death while driving without a licence. On Friday, he was sentenced to four years' imprisonment and disqualified from driving for four years. He must also sit an extended retest when re-applying for his licence.
Mum-of-four Emma, 34, from Leicester, says: "It was a whirlwind 24 hours; I was euphoric from the birth, and then shell-shocked seeing my parents' dead bodies. I hadn't seen Mum because of the rift with my father. I had always hoped one day Mum and I would be close again, and now that will never happen.
"She will never meet her new grandson, and that breaks my heart. Singh was driving without a licence, and without insurance and he is a danger to all drivers. He should be locked up for a long time." Emma was an only child and has happy memories of her mother.
She says: "We enjoyed watching the soaps together, we'd bake cakes and crochet. She worked full time as a civil servant." After having her eldest child in 2011, and supported by her husband, Dale, Emma broke off contact with her father. Emma says: "I always hoped one day Mum and I would be close again.".
