Devastated family demand answers after mum of two killed on her way to Tesco

A heartbroken family has paid tribute to a much-loved mum-of-two who was killed as she crossed the road on her way to Tesco^[1].

Now, they're demanding answers as to exactly what happened after 41-year-old Michelle Barlow died after being hit by two cars in Stretford. The tragic incident took place in July last year, with Greater Manchester Police^[2] saying at the time it was believed Michelle was hit by a black Audi A8 travelling city-bound as she crossed Chester Road.

She then fell into the path of a Mercedes^[3] on the Stretford-bound carriageway. It all took place near the Tesco superstore on July 22, 2023, shortly after 10.10pm.

Despite the best efforts of emergency services, Michelle sustained fatal injuries. At the time, GMP said a 36-year-old man who was driving the Audi had been arrested on suspicion of causing death by driving without due care and attention. But today, July 8, 2024, the force confirmed that no action is being taken against him, reports the Manchester Evening News^[5].

Michelle's family now hope that they will get answers at an inquest^[6] later this month as to what happened. They said she was a mother to a 22-year-old daughter, Lauren, and also had a 10-year-old son.

In a statement, her family said: "Michelle was such a friendly bubbly chatty person loved by all her family and many friends. Michelle went to Tottington High School, Bury, and lived in Tottington until meeting her partner and moving to Manchester^[7]. Many of her old friends from school and the village attended her funeral - you could tell what a popular, friendly person she was by the amount of people who attended her funeral. This was an awful shock to her daughter^[8], Lauren, as her Dad died from cancer a few years ago so she has now ended up with no parents."

They said that on the night she was killed, Michelle was crossing the road to go to Tesco^[10]. They said they had been offered counselling by road safety charity, BRAKE, but "this takes quite some time as they are extremely busy so we have dealt with this ourselves".

They added: "The police^[11] take such a long time to deal with things as the Coroner has said, but this is due to a massive shortage of police in the incident centre. You can text them with queries how things are going but they can take a week to answer; we have had most of the information from the coroner's office who have been extremely helpful."

Michelle's sister, Emma, said: "Losing Michelle has shattered all our lives and deeply affected all our family and friends. The driver of the Mercedes stayed at the scene and gave her CPR^[12], for which we are grateful. We have the inquest later this month and had expected to be able to ask the drivers of both cars questions to give the family closure, but we have been told now they do not have to attend."

Today, GMP said: "The investigation is complete from a GMP perspective with no criminal^[13] charges being brought against the driver. The investigation has concluded that the collision did not amount to a criminal act. The matter has been referred to HM Coroner for purpose of an inquest."

References

1. ^{^} Tesco (www.mirror.co.uk)
2. ^{^} Greater Manchester Police (www.mirror.co.uk)
3. ^{^} Mercedes (www.mirror.co.uk)
4. ^{^} Jay Slater's desperate dad says son's disappearance on Tenerife 'doesn't make sense' (www.mirror.co.uk)
5. ^{^} Manchester Evening News (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
6. ^{^} inquest (www.mirror.co.uk)
7. ^{^} Manchester (www.mirror.co.uk)
8. ^{^} daughter (www.mirror.co.uk)
9. ^{^} Moment yob hurls roof tiles at police during five-hour pub stand-off after booze binge (www.mirror.co.uk)
10. ^{^} Tesco (www.mirror.co.uk)
11. ^{^} police (www.mirror.co.uk)
12. ^{^} CPR (www.mirror.co.uk)
13. ^{^} criminal (www.mirror.co.uk)