Mother-to-be, 19, who awoke from coma to find unborn son and boyfriend dead in smash while fleeing police says: ‘I feel like I died in that crash’
- Bethany Leese, 19, was in a car crash where she tragically lost her unborn son
- She found out her boyfriend Joshua Sanna had also died in the accident when she woke up from a coma
- They were being chased by police after Joshua failed to stop, an inquest heard
- He was driving with only a provisional licence and in a borrowed car, so panicked when the police officer turned on the sirens
A teenage mum has relived the horror of waking from a coma and discovering her boyfriend and unborn son had died in a head-on car crash following a police chase.
Beth Leese, 19, was six months pregnant when her boyfriend collided with two cars while driving on the wrong side of the A50 near Stoke after trying to evade police on April 15, 2018.
A police car, in an unmarked BMW, had spotted the car without its back lights at around 6am and began a pursuit when Joshua Sanna, 19, failed to stop.
He was driving with only a provisional licence and in a borrowed car, so panicked when the police officer turned on the sirens.
Since Joshua’s death, 19-year-old Beth has had another baby, Charlie Joshua (pictured)
Beth Leese (pictured) found out she lost her boyfriend and unborn son after waking from coma
The Toyota Aygo he was driving crashed into a Honda Civic and then a Vauxhall Astra, sending both Beth and Joshua, out the window.
Joshua died at the scene, despite the efforts of the emergency services, and Beth was taken to the Royal Stoke University Hospital.
Bethany’s boyfriend, Joshua Sanna (pictured), was killed in a crash during a police pursuit
Beth was in a coma for two weeks before she woke up, only to be told she had lost her unborn son.
She said: ‘To be honest, when I woke up I didn’t remember that I was pregnant.
‘They told me and I was a bit confused. I had to go down to the morgue and I met him and I held him.
‘It’s the mother and baby instinct, I instantly knew he was mine. It was horrible, honestly it was horrible.
‘I’ll never forget the smell in that room. They kept him for a long while until I woke up.
‘I called the baby Joshua, because when I first walked in he was the spitting image of his dad.
The scene of the crash on the A50 in Stoke-on-Trent while trying to evade police in 2018
‘I thought it was only right. He was the dual of him, it was mad.’
Beth was given a memory box for her son, including hand and foot prints, and she spent every day in the morgue for weeks after awakening.
During that time, she was told what had happened in the crash, with her memory being hazy due to a brain injury that required surgery.
Since Joshua’s death, she has had another baby, Charlie Joshua.
His birth has given Beth something to live for, but she is still left severely debilitated by her injuries.
An inquest into Joshua’s death finished yesterday, forcing Beth to relive the accident which happened on April 15, 2018.
She said: ‘Apparently, I was a little bit conscious, screaming in pain and I was just mumbling on the floor, so that’s when they came to me.
‘They didn’t see me at first, they thought I was a blanket on the road. They saved my life. I’m so lucky to be alive, I can’t tell you.
‘My arm fell off, they had to sew it back on. It was a proper open fracture. The bones were popping through the skin. It was hanging on by a little piece of skin.
‘Every single one of my internal organs was injured. I had blood clots in my lungs.
The scan of the unborn son, who was tragically killed in the horror crash two years ago
‘My kidney had a laceration, my liver had a laceration, my spleen did, and my brain obviously.
‘I’m absolutely covered in scars. They spent ages picking glass out of me.
‘I’ve got a little scar on my eye, but my back looks like I had a fight with a tiger.’
The deepest scar left behind, however, was the loss of the love of her life.
Beth and Joshua met when they were 17 and 18 respectively.
They maintained a relationship between Stoke-on-Trent, where she lived on her own, and London, where he lived with his mother, Rossana.
She credits him with saving her life when she came out of a care home and looked to be going down a ‘bad road’.
She said: ‘I loved him so much. I loved his massive smile, his energy, his voice, how caring he was.
‘He saved me from such a slippery slope.
‘He always looked out for everyone and nothing was too much. He had so much respect for everyone.
‘He wasn’t this horrible person everyone seems to make out [at the inquest].
‘I feel like I died in that crash because my sweet baby, my future, my love, and it feels like my life too, got taken from me.’
Drugs were found in the car they were driving, but Beth strenuously denied Joshua had anything to do with them.
She said she used to give him a hard time for smoking marijuana and would not allow it near her when she was pregnant.
She said: ‘I can hardly use my left arm, I am covered in scars and I have PTSD.
‘I struggle to string a sentence together and I’m always full of anxiety.
‘Brain injury effects are forever. It is a life sentence of rehabilitation, which I’m still doing.
‘I lost my whole life and independence in that crash, now I rely on someone for everything.
‘All of this because the back lights weren’t on. It’s mad.’
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