Death crash biker had become a dad

By Sharon Asplin

A MOTORCYCLIST killed in a crash had become a father for the second time just six weeks ago.

David Williams, 35, of Blickling Road, Great Notley, died at the scene after his green Triumph motorbike was involved in a collision with an articulated brewery lorry near Boreham, Chelmsford, at about 1.30pm on Friday.

The experienced motorcyclist had lived in Chelmsford all his life until he and his wife of six years, Kate, moved to Great Notley in November 2003.

The couple had been together for 10 years. He also leaves two children, four-year-old Hannah and Thomas, aged just six weeks.

Mrs Williams said her husband "always had a bike" and, whenever the weather was good enough, would ride to and from his work at Ford in Dunton, where he was foreman of the rig shop.

She said her husband was "very much a family man and enjoyed socialising with friends", adding: "Our family and all his many friends will miss him very much."

After attending Lawford Mead Junior and Rainsford Comprehensive schools in Chelmsford, Mr Williams became an apprentice mechanic at Days garage in Chelmsford.

He then joined the Royal Navy, serving as a marine engineering mechanic on HMS Gloucester and HMS London and fighting in the first Gulf War.

Following that, he joined Ford, working at its radiator plant in Basildon for six years, moving to Boreham with Ford Rallysport for a further six years before taking up his current job in Dunton.

Outside work, Mr Williams was studying at Anglia Polytechnic University, Chelmsford, for a BSc Honours degree in automotive engineering and had just completed an HND.

Mr Williams was one of two fatalities on the region's roads in the past three days - on Saturday a man died after the car in which he was a passenger crashed.

The accident happened on the B1078 Needham Market to Barking road shortly before 8pm and involved one car.

Suffolk police said a passenger aged in his mid 20s had died in the accident, while the driver had received relatively minor injuries.

Suffolk Fire Service sent three crews from Ipswich, Stowmarket and Needham Market to the scene after receiving reports of a person trapped in the vehicle.

A spokeswoman for the East Anglian Ambulance Trust said paramedics had taken one casualty to Ipswich Hospital suffering from spinal injuries. A police investigation has now been launched into the cause of the accident.

A woman was also taken to hospital on Saturday after a road accident on Badley Hill in Badley, near Stowmarket.

Fire crews from Stowmarket, Elmswell and Ipswich went to the scene after receiving a report of a casualty trapped in the vehicle. The condition of the woman was not known last night.

Traffic was also held up on the A12 at Farnham, near Saxmundham, following a two-car crash shortly before noon yesterday.

Fire crews from Saxmundham, Aldeburgh and Ipswich attended the scene and helped release a victim trapped in one of the cars. The person was released after about 30 minutes and taken to Ipswich Hospital, but was not thought to be seriously injured.

Anyone with information about the fatal Chelmsford crash should contact traffic police on 01245 452918.

n A 38-year-old man from Pentlow was being questioned by police last night after an alleged hit-and-run accident that left a teenage moped rider with serious leg injuries.

The 16-year-old girl, from Acton, near Sudbury, was riding her purple Yamaha bike along the B1064 Borley Road in Foxearth, near Long Melford, at 11.35pm on Saturday when she was involved in a collision with a green Peugeot 406 car.

The male driver and his front-seat female passenger left the scene. The teenager was taken to West Suffolk Hospital, Bury St Edmunds, but her injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.

sharon.asplin@eadt.co.uk