Father of dead girl sues for suffering and PTSD

By Liz Lockhart

The father of a teenage girl who died in a driving accident is suing the driver of the vehicle. He is suing for ‘psychiatric damage’ that has left him suffering from vivid nightmares and anxiety.

Terry Jones, 61, lost his 16 year-old daughter, Louise, four years ago when she and three friends were killed after the car in which they were passengers swerved off a mountain road near Ebbw Vale. The driver, Craig Ramshaw, 22, survived.

Mr Jones is suing Ramshaw for psychiatric injuries which include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) which he says he has suffered since the loss of his daughter.

The case was reported on walesonline.co.uk, which says that Terry Jones is claiming or personal injury as the ‘secondary victim’ of the crash in which all four girls died after being thrown out of the back of the car at Llangynidr moors.

Since the accident Mr Jones has had bouts of anger, nightmares, flashbacks and that he was constantly worried about children travelling in cars, Cardiff Civil Justice Centre was told.

He keeps her ashes close by him and has ‘mummified’ his daughter’s room to keep it as it was before her death.

Lawyers had conflicting opinions as to whether the retired shopkeeper had PTSD or was suffering from prolonged grief.

Nigel Lewis who is representing Ramshaw, the driver, said that a major symptom of PTSD was avoidance behaviour but that Mr. Jones had led numerous campaigns and written a book.

He also said that Mr Jones had made formal complaints against Dyfed-Powys police, petitioned to create one police force instead of four and also petitioned to replace the existing driving test.

Mr Jones was assessed by consultant psychiatrist David Thomas last year. Dr. Thomas said a PTSD sufferer could still be driven to campaign or to write a book. He added ‘Some issues can reduce the intensity of PTSD. Writing a narrative is one of the psychological treatments used for PTSD.’

‘Recounting something over a period of time, slowly thinking about it themselves...this is usually therapeutic and reduces the intensity of the illness as a whole’.

Dr. Thomas said that the defence were trying to identify symptoms in a ‘cook-book’ fashion but that calm periods could often be followed by clear symptoms.

Thomas added ‘Indeed in 2007 he was not able to go into the shop he ran. All he was able to do was open the shop, his brother would go in and he wouldn’t be able to stay. As a result he got into debt and had to resolve that’.

The four friends, Katie Roberts, Danielle Caswell, Kayleigh Parry (all 15 years-old) and Louise Jones (16 years-old) were passengers in Mr. Ramshaw’s car having accepted a lift while out walking near Ebbw Vale.

Ramshaw was cleared of death by dangerous driving but convicted of careless driving at Cardiff Crown Court.

Dr Ahmed Elessra, defence witness, interviewed Mr Jones in February 2010 and said that because he had not been involved in or seen the accident he was less likely to have PTSD.

The case continues but we will try to bring you the outcome when it is reached.