Classmates pay tributes to ‘four musketeers’ after North Wales crash tragedy
Classmates have paid tribute after four youngsters died in North Wales. The bodies of Jevon Hirst, Harvey Owen, Wilf Fitchett and Hugo Morris were recovered from a silver Ford Fiesta in Snowdonia on Tuesday. A search began for the teenagers after they failed to return home from an overnight camping trip to the area.
North Wales Police said the bodies were found inside the overturned car which left the A4085 at Garreg, near Tremadog, and was partially submerged in water. Floral tributes to the four teenage boys have been laid on the steps of the college they attended today, Wednesday, November 22. Chalk messages at the entrance to Shrewsbury College expressed the grief many are feeling after the camping trip ended in tragedy.
One said simply: “Rest in peace lovelies.” Classmate Molly Clarkson said she knew all the boys and had first met Jevon at primary school. She said: “Wilf sits in my English class and today the teacher was crying. There is an undisputed sadness.
They were all best friends.” Shrewsbury Colleges Group, where the boys were A-level students, offered “deepest condolences to the family and friends” of the teenagers and said it had put in place a range of support measures to help those affected. One card on a floral tribute said: “The Four Musketeers.
How much we will miss you all.”
Candles inside Shrewsbury Abbey, where people were being invited to pay their respects on Wednesday (Image: PA)
Another card simply read: “We love you all. Fly with the angels you beautiful boys.” One student wrote a letter which they lay on the steps.
It read: “I did not know you for long Jev, but I know that you were loved and cared for by the people around you. That love and care was a reflection of the local and care you showed to others. “May you rest in peace and be remembered with kindness and love.
Rest in peace Jev, it was a pleasure to meet you.” Shrewsbury Abbey in the town opened for students to light candles in the church for the victims. Church administrator Steve Swindon said: “What they are experiencing is hard to contemplate.
It doesn’t matter if you have a faith, it is about humanity. “We are here for everybody. Shrewsbury is a strong community.” Local vicar Reverend Charlotte Gompertz said the tragic news had been “utterly devastating” to the whole community.
She added: “It’s impacting everyone. This is a tight-knit community where many of the young people have been at school together since they were four years old. “It is going to take a long time for us to get our heads even vaguely around this tragedy.” Shrewsbury’s planned Christmas[2] lights switch on and late night shopping were postponed as a sign of respect.
Flowers left on the steps of Shrewsbury College (Image: SWNS)
Resident Arthur Reece, 50, said: “I think it is fair to say that Christmas will be cancelled for lots of people in the town this year.
We are a close-knit community and are grieving hard with those poor families who have lost their sons.” Superintendent Stu Bill, of West Mercia Police, said: “Our thoughts and condolences are with the families, friends and loved ones of the four teenagers who sadly died. We know many people in Shrewsbury will be affected by their deaths and will continue to support the local community.
“North Wales Police’s investigation to establish the circumstances that led to the car leaving the road continues and we have family liaison officers working with our colleagues at North Wales Police to support the families of the boys who died.”
Families in grief
Crystal Owen, Harvey’s mother, said she did not know the teenagers were going on a camping trip and thought they were going to stay at a friend’s grandfather’s house. She said she was taking time away from the cupcake business she runs and leaving it in the hands of her partner and staff. “I feel like I’m in a nightmare I wish I could wake up from but I’m not,” she said. “I just wanted to say I do appreciate people’s kindness but no amount of messages is going to help me overcome this.
Nothing will make this nightmare go away.” Maddi Corfield posted a tribute online in the wake of the tragic loss of her boyfriend, Wilf. “I love you so much, I’m going to miss you forever,” she said.
A photo of the four teenagers, Jevon Hirst, Harvey Owen, Wilf Fitchett and Hugo Morris, who died in a car crash in in Snowdonia, North Wales, by candles and a sympathy card inside Shrewsbury Abbey (Image: PA)
“The sweetest and most loving boy I’ve ever known. I hope you know how much I love you, gorgeous.
Thank you for all the time you’ve spent with me… thank you for loving me endlessly. I promise I’ll do the same for you, my sweet, sweet angel.” She added: “I can’t imagine my world without you.
I’m missing you so much already, but I am going to enjoy life the way you would’ve wanted, the way that you made me feel.” Her mother, Lisa Corfield, 37, said on Facebook: “I am absolutely heartbroken for Maddi and all of the families involved. Wilf was such a lovely, kind lad and treated Maddi in a way only a mother could hope her daughter be treated.”
Workers pay tributes to Harvey
Staff at the Dough and Oil restaurant paid tribute to their colleague, Harvey.
In a post of Instagram, they described him as “easy-going, warm, funny, gentle, bright, hardworking and humble”. They said he had joined two years ago starting on the pot wash, then working front of house, before switching to the kitchen. “He gave it his all, developing a passion for dough and had dreams of one day opening his own bakery,” they said. “Before shifts, or on his break, you’d often find him listening to music or his head in a book – unusually for his age enjoying the likes of The Doors and Jack Kerouac, always keen to chat and discover something new.
Our love, thoughts and condolences go out to Harvey’s family and to those of his friends, their lives full of promise cut so tragically short.”
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