Heartbroken mum: “My son’s final moments still remain a mystery”

IT took eight months for the smell of flowers to leave Darryl Thompson’s bedroom when he died, after which time his mother knew he was finally gone.

It is now over six years since the 22-year-old was killed, after being struck by a vehicle travelling at high speed on the M1 motorway.

When Edwina Thompson-Clarke was called to identify her son’s body, a large portion of the side and back of his skull was missing.

Not only had she lost her oldest boy – but she had lost him in one of the worst ways a mother could imagine.

Since then Edwina has been adrift in the void that was torn open by Darryl’s death.

Now, in order to give herself the best chance of establishing the sequence of events that led to her son’s still-mysterious end, Edwina has to stump up at least £10,000 on legal fees.

She believes a mother’s access to such a terrible truth should be a basic right, unfettered by a person’s financial circumstances.

“When Darryl was killed, I lost my son and best friend, and my other children lost their big brother. Our family will never be the same. We will never get closure. But there are questions that need answered if we are to begin to heal,” began Edwina.

“I believe Darryl was killed after an altercation broke out in the backseat of the car which was taking him and a few friends home from a car drifting event at Tullyroan Oval.

“I think the driver then pulled into the hard shoulder, where all occupants got out of the car and the row continued. Before the driver and other passengers got back into the car, Darryl was dead, having been struck by an oncoming car which threw him dozens of metres up the motorway.

POLICE INVESTIGATION

After Darryl was killed, police proceeded to investigate the possibility of manslaughter. However, nobody was charged.

“Darryl’s death and the investigation around it was the first of its nature, with regards to the fact it happened on a motorway.

“I don’t know how hard the police really tried. Regardless, though, they failed to give me the answers I need. My son’s final moments still remain a mystery to me.”

Edwina recently received news that after half a dozen preliminary hearings, the Coroner will hold an inquest into Darryl’s death in Belfast at the end of February.

However, in the absence of legal aid, Edwina will have to pay her solicitor and barrister out of her own purse.

GOFUNDME PAGE

“I haven’t got the money. It is as simple as that. The truth is that I am still paying off the £12,000 loan I took out to pay for Darryl’s funeral. To pay the bills that I have coming my way, I have decided to open a GoFundMe page, so that people, if they should wish, can support me in my ongoing fight to find out what happened my son.”

Edwina has not had any counselling since that fateful Saturday in November, 2018.

She has relied on herself, the support of her family and the strength she can summon from the memory of her late son.

“They actually won’t give me any counselling now until after the inquest. If they open me up, they don’t really know what will happen. I don’t know if they’ll be able to close me again,” said the grieving mother.

Edwina said that she has never dreamt about Darryl since his death – a fact she relates with resigned despair.

However, she does believe that her son is still with her.

“I was going shopping one day and I asked Darryl to come with me. I needed him there; I just did,” explained Edwina.

When she got into the shop, the man working, who she did not really know, said, ‘You’re not alone today, are you? You’ve someone with
you’.

Edwina said, “It really freaked me out at first. Then I thought about it a bit more, and then I felt something warm come over me. It was like confirmation that Darryl really is still here.”

Six years on from Darryl’s death, Edwina said things have changed, but they’ve not gotten any better.

“I wish I could tell Frances (Currie) that there was a light at the end of the tunnel, but I can’t. All I can do is tell her that you learn to live with it better. For me, our freindship has done me a lot of good.

“More than anything, it has given me a friend who really understands. Because, unless you’ve lost a child, you don’t get it, no matter how hard you try.

“Honestly: How lucky those are, who have no idea,” concluded Edwina.