Husband finds wife dying in road accident

7:00pm Tuesday 19th August 2008

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A good Samaritan who stopped to help at the scene of a road accident discovered the woman who lay dying in the road was his own wife.

James Peters, of Oxshott Road, Leatherhead, had been on his way to pick up his wife Susan from work on Friday when he came across the scene, just yards where he usually picked her up.

Mr Peters, 61, who is president of Twickenham Rugby Club and runs his own central heating business, said that he parked and, assuming his 60-year-old wife had not yet arrived, went to see if he could help the injured lady.

“There was a lady lying in the road and she looked in a bad way,” he said.

“I was kneeling on the floor by a man trying to help her as they waited for paramedics.

“I was trying to help him for about six or seven minutes and then someone handed me her handbag. I recognised it as being my wife’s and then recognised her clothes.

“I was totally devastated.”

In a further twist, the couple, who have three sons and four grandchildren, had celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary just days earlier.

“She was a perfect wife, she had no faults whatsoever, she never said a bad word against anyone,” Mr Peters said. “We first met when we were teenagers at a party, I was 16 years old and she was 15 years old and we were together since then.”

Mr Peters, who is a magistrate in Richmond, added that they had only just moved to Leatherhead from Hampton and were in the process of refurbishing their £1 million home.

Mrs Peters had worked for Surrey County Council in Kingston for 15 years and this week her colleagues paid tribute to her Patricia Greer, the council’s strategic director for communities, said: “Our thoughts and sympathies are with Sue’s family and relatives at this difficult time.

“Sue was a valued colleague and a very dear friend to many of the team at our contact centre, having been with the county council for 14 years.

“Sue was a lovely lady, respected and liked by all who knew her and we will all miss her very much.”

A Surrey Police spokeswoman said: “A 25-year-old man from Fetcham was arrested and has been released on police bail until November 7 in connection with this incident.”