Girl, 3, had her ‘life snatched away in a moment’ and nobody knows why

A mother, whose three-year-old daughter was tragically killed in a crash, has described the horrific moment she saw the other car drive the wrong way down the "fast lane". Faye Dawson, lost her life when driver Terence Unsworth, 79, inexplicably and intentionally swerved into oncoming traffic on the M6. The incident occurred around 5.50pm on November 19, 2022 on the motorway near Leyland.

Mr Unsworth drove his Porsche Boxster onto the slip road at J28 before making an abrupt U-turn into the third lane of the southbound motorway, directly into the path of oncoming vehicles. He collided head-on with the Vauxhall Meriva that Faye's mother, Beth Dawson, was driving with Faye in the back seat. At Faye's inquest at Preston coroner's court today (December 3) her mother Beth Dawson, from Wallasey, said: "I can't remember how long it was into the journey, but I was travelling on the M6 when a car in front of me moved and I was confronted with car headlights right in from of me.

I tried to take evasive action but there was no time. I blacked out." An earlier inquest into Mr Unsworth's death determined that his actions were "deliberate", but the investigation could not explain why he chose to drive the wrong way down the motorway.

Following the accident, Faye was rushed to Royal Preston Hospital, where she was sadly pronounced dead. A post-mortem examination revealed that her cause of death was multiple injuries, reports the Liverpool Echo[2].

Coroner Richard Taylor, delivering a verdict of death by road traffic collision, extended his deepest condolences to the bereaved family: "I can't begin to imagine what you have had to live through and you have my eternal sympathies for that." Following the inquest, Ms Dawson expressed her anguish in a statement and said: "Today has been horrible for all of us, having to relive the events of November 19 and the accident which took away my lovely Faye's life almost before it had truly begun.

"A family day out. That day was supposed to contain so many happy memories, and was turned so painfully into the worst day of our lives. I am truly heartbroken Faye has been tragically taken away from us.

I am so lost without my little babe. Faye was my one and only child, my daughter and my best friend. "Faye was the most amazing, craziest, sassy, gorgeous, caring little girl there will ever be.

Faye enjoyed singing and dancing, playing outside. She was clever, loved nursery and was so advanced for her age in many ways. "My poor babe should have had her whole life ahead of her.

To have her life so cruelly snatched away in a moment is something I will never get over. No child should leave this world before their parent. No words will ever come close to the pain."

"Neither this inquest nor the earlier inquest into the death of the other party, nor the investigation by the police has been able to establish exactly why the other person decided to drive his car the wrong way down the motorway. "His actions were inexplicable. It eats away at me and makes it impossible to achieve any kind of justice, closure and the space to grieve.

Our lives will never be the same.

We all love and miss you forever, our Faye."

References

1. ^ 'You may consider yourself very fortunate...' mum avoids jail after drunken foul mouthed tirade on flight (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
2. ^ the Liverpool Echo (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)