Police launch probe into ‘altercation’ at caravan park hours before horror Cardiff car crash that left three dead and two others seriously injured – as detectives hunt for sixth passenger
- Police investigating bust-up at caravan park where group in Cardiff crash were
- Detectives are looking for a sixth man who is believed to have been a passenger
Police have launched a probe into an ‘altercation’ at a caravan park which is said to have happened just hours before the horror car crash in Cardiff that left three dead and two seriously injured.
The details of the bust-up are not yet clear but it reportedly happened at Trecco Bay caravan park in Porthcawl, which is where the group had travelled 40 miles to after exiting a nightclub in Newport, south Wales, last Friday night.
Detectives are now hunting for a sixth passenger – an unnamed man – who is understood to have been dropped off at his home in Cardiff after the group left the caravan park.
Eve Smith and her friend Darcy Ross, both 21, died in the collision alongside Rafel Jeanne, 24. And Sophie Russon, 20, and Shane Loughlin, 32, both remain in a critical condition after being left in the wreckage for nearly two days.
The white Volkswagen Tiguan carrying the group was discovered in trees just yards off the A48 in Cardiff in the in the early hours of Monday morning – and may have been there unnoticed for 48 hours.
Police have launched a probe into an ‘altercation’ at a caravan park which is said to have happened just hours before the horror car crash in Cardiff that left three dead and two seriously injured. Pictured: Police cordon off a caravan at the Trecco Bay caravan site in Porthcawl, Wales today
Eve Smith, 21, (pictured) whose sister Xana was killed by a drug and drink driver in 2015, died in the crash in Cardiff
Darcy Ross, 21, (pictured) was also killed in the incident. The group was last seen in the car at 2am on Saturday in CCTV footage taken at a petrol station in the Pentwyn area of Cardiff, not far from the crash site
Police have cordoned off the Parkdean Resorts caravan park Trecco Bay in Porthcawl
Police have confirmed today that they are investigating reports of the alleged altercation at the caravan park as well as suggestions there was a sixth passenger, the Mirror reports.
A spokesperson for South Wales Police told the paper that they would not make any additional comments while the investigation was ongoing.
It is not yet known why the group went to the caravan park, but it is believed that Mr Loughlin’s family own a caravan at the site.
A friend who has helped in the search for the group wrote on social media that there was an ‘altercation at the caravan site where the security guards last seen them’.
‘Not sure what the altercation was but the security said they all jumped into this car,’ the friend added.
A spokesperson for Parkdean Resorts, who run the caravan park, told the Mirror that they could not comment due to the police investigation.
Sophie Russon, 20, had life-saving surgery in hospital after fracturing her skull in the crash, which led to a bleed on her brain
Rafel Jeanne is one of three people who died in a horrific crash in St Mellons, Cardiff
Shane Loughlin, 32, (pictured) also spent nearly two days critically injured in the car and he is in hospital in critical condition
Pictured: The scene in the St Mellons area of Cardiff where the car was found on Monday
Gwent Police and South Wales Police have now insisted they located the wreckage of the car using a helicopter after claims from volunteer searchers that they were at the scene before officers.
The five revellers had been to a social club in Maesglas, Newport, on Friday night and were thought to have travelled 40 miles to the Trecco Bay area of Porthcawl.
Police have now confirmed they were last seen at about 2am on Saturday in Pentwyn, Cardiff.
Officers believe the car was involved in a collision and came off the A48(M) some time later, but further investigations using CCTV and automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) inquiries are needed to establish an exact time.
Having failed to return home, they were reported missing by their families, the first call coming into the police at 7.34pm on Saturday while further reports were made up until 5.37pm on Sunday.
Hundreds of people took part in searches but Gwent Police did not issue a public appeal for help until 11pm on Sunday.
Members of the friends’ search party Matthew Pace, 45, and his son Lewis, 26, told Sky News they found the car shortly before officers arrived on the scene, having seen tyre marks leading off the road and into a wooded area.
But in a joint statement, Gwent and South Wales Police said a police helicopter was requested to search an area of Cardiff at 11.50pm on Sunday, which the forces said resulted in the vehicle being found by its officers at 12.15am on Monday.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has launched an investigation into the police response.
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