Moment I saw son die will be with me forever

A MUM who saw her tiny son crushed to death by a 4x4 spoke of her grief saying: "I can't get it out of my head. That image will never leave me."

Tina Woods revealed she has been suffering the horrible flashbacks since Thurday when the car mounted the pavement outside her childrens' school, ramming 15-month-old Finlay's buggy into a wall.

Speaking exclusively to the News of the World, brave Tina said: "It's so vivid and like it's imprinted on my brain. I can see it happening over and over again."

Tina, 31, told of the dreadful effect Finlay's death has had on his sister Livvy, seven, and brothers Dillon, five, and Harvey, four. She said: "Dillon is the only one who has cried.

"Harvey witnessed it all. He thinks we are going to pick Fin up from Heaven on Monday.

"When he gets up in the morning the first thing he usually does is wake Fin in his cot.

"They spent all their time together and would get up and watch Bunnytown on the TV. He just wants him to come home.

"Fin was a perfect, happy little angel. He was always smiling."

Tina's husband Roger, 32, a fitness instructor, is too distraught to talk about his son's death. She revealed: "He can't find the words. He has to text people because as soon as he speaks he cries."

Tina told how she and her mum Linda were taking Finlay and Harvey to collect Livvy and Dillon from Selwyn Primary School yards from their home in in Chingford, east London, when the tot was killed.

Recalling how Finlay had just been fitted for his first pair of shoes, Tina said: "We'd been to Clarks and come back home for some lunch. Fin made a cheese sandwich on the floor. I'm sure the stain is still there. Then we walked down the road to pick up the children. Mum was pushing Fin's chair.

"Harvey usually holds the buggy but just moments before he had run off and I went after him. Suddenly this massive 4x4 mounted the pavement. It came straight through the safety fence towards the school gates."

Tina's 53-year-old mum was knocked over as the car swept the pushchair out of her hands, crushing it against the wall. Tina said: "The driver kept revving forward and crushing him more. Everyone was yelling for her to reverse. Why wouldn't she reverse?"

Emergency services including an air ambulance were on the scene in moments, but Tina knew her son was gone. Clutching Finlay's toy dog, she said: "They worked to resuscitate him but deep down I knew it was too late. His head was so badly injured."

Tina told how she stayed with her son's body for five hours and would not have been able to leave him even then had it not been for the compassion of a nurse at Whipps Cross Hospital, where Finlay had been born. She said: "The nurse said she would look after him as if he was one of her own. I knew she was telling the truth."

Local restaurant owner Katie Guiterrez-Perez, 39, was remanded in custody by Redbridge JPs yesterday facing charges including causing death by dangerous driving.

It is thought her business was closed by bailiffs on Monday. A police source said: "A suicide note was found.

"It is thought someone had called at her house to repossess a car. There seems to have been some sort of argument and after downing a mixture of alcohol and drugs it's thought she may have got into the vehicle."

Grieving Tina added: "I haven't even thought about the funeral. Somehow that would make this all the more real and I can't face that at the moment."

This article has 0 comments