Motorway driver saw woman on bridge

2:40pm Friday 21st November 2008

A MOTORIST driving under Hook motorway bridge where a desperate mum-of-two fell to her death saw her preparing to jump but failed to contact police.

Sally Wakefield’s body was struck by 50 vehicles as it lay in the middle lane of the eastbound carriageway of the M4 between junction 17 and 16 on May 12 last year.

The 49-year-old from Greenhill, Wootton Bassett, had battled mental illness for 15 years with powerful bouts of depression, bulimia and anorexia.

In a horrific twist to her already tragic story, Martin Kilbane – the motorist who saw Mrs Wakefield hanging from Hook Bridge – admitted he thought she would commit suicide but still failed to dial 999.

Details of the sighting emerged the day after Mrs Wakefield’s death when PC Annette Batch was making unrelated enquiries with the Kilbane family in Swindon.

In a statement read out during the inquest PC Batch said: “Martin Kilbane asked if anything had happened on the M4 anywhere on the previous night. He and his mate had been travelling along the M4 and had seen a woman hanging from the overhead bridge.”

The officer asked Mr Kilbane if he had pulled over and reported what he’s seen. “He said no he had not, he said though, he believed she was going to kill herself. He did not seem surprised that the lady subsequently died.”

The inquest heard that Mrs Wakefield had been reported missing earlier that evening.

She and her husband John had planned to spend the night at Riffs Bar in Greatfield but she changed her mind.

Giving evidence Mr Wakefield said he had got back home from the bar to find his wife on the phone to her friend Sally Law.

“I went to bed and expected her to follow me up, my daughter later came home and asked where Sally’s car had gone. That’s when we reported her missing”, he said.

Mrs Wakefield’s Vauxhall Astra was found parked in nearby Bolingbroke Close, in Hook. Her navy blue jacket was left on the bridge containing just her car keys. She died shortly after 11pm.

Driver Mark Ponting, one of the motorists to hit the 49-year-old’s body, said he thought he had hit a deer.

Mrs Wakefield had already made an attempt on her life once before, taking an overdose just before Christmas 2006, but Mr Wakefield said he thought she’d never do it again.

“She told me her mum had tried to commit suicide and how selfish it was,” he said. “So I didn’t think she’d do it herself.”

Paying tribute to his wife, Mr Wakefield said: “She looked after us all so well, I told her all the time we could never live without her. In the last couple of months I thought she was getting back to herself, we were looking to the future.”