A bereaved dad who saw both his wife and son killed in a horrific crash has spoken out for the first time.
Bill Boyack was driving behind his wife, Angela, and son, Stephen, as they returned from a family holiday to celebrate Angela’s 60th birthday. Bill and his other son, Alex, watched in horror as an overtaking car hit them head on. The driver of the other car, Joshua Hill, already on bail and banned from the area for other offences, fled the scene, leaving them to die. His cowardice was caught on dash cam.
Hill was eventually arrested and later jailed for 13 years at Derby Crown Court. Bill, 62, says: “I cannot begin to describe how losing my wife and son has broken our family. Angela was the glue that held us together, she was loved right through the community. Stephen was my youngest son, my baby. He had often said, when he was younger, that he feared he’d die in a car crash, to the point where he didn’t want to learn to drive. When he did learn, he was a careful and considerate driver, and he was a fine young man.
“The coward who killed them just ran away and left the car to burn. I lifted free Stephen from the wreckage myself, I didn’t want Alex to go through that. A passer-by helped me to pull my wife’s body from the car. These are scenes which will haunt me forever. I frequently break down in tears when it hits me I will never hold my wife in my arms again or see my son’s cheesy wave as he leaves for work each morning. He never left without his trademark grin and a wave. Their killer ought to be serving life.”
The family, Bill and Angela, and their two sons, Alex, now 29, and Stephen, then 22, had been enjoying a family holiday in Derbyshire in December last year, to celebrate Angela’s 60th birthday.
Bill, from South Shields, says: “We’d been holidayed there as a family for many years. Angela was a loving and warm person. She worked in the local library for 40 years and we’d first bonded over our love of reading. She encouraged so many local children to enjoy books. Our own home was wall to wall books.
“We’d been together almost 40 years, married for 35, and I loved her dearly. She had endometriosis, and as a young couple we went through several miscarriages, before Alex came along. He was so precious, given our history, and Angela was a wonderful mother. The boys meant everything to her. Stephen and Alex were very different in character but very close. They loved winding Angela up. My nickname for Stephen as a kid was ‘Polywaddles.’”
At 17, Stephen refused to learn to drive, insisting he felt sure he would die in a car crash. Alex also had premonitions that he would lose his brother. Bill says: “Eventually, we talked him round. He had a job as an engineer and he needed to drive. He loved his little Hyundai.”
The family had enjoyed their break in Derbyshire, taking two cars. When they left, Stephen and Angela travelled separately to Bill and Alex. Bill says: “There was traffic on our usual route, so we took another road. Stephen was slightly in front, and all of a sudden, I saw the car fly up in the air and roll across the opposite carriageway with the front end smashed in and smoking.
“I went into shock. I ran to them, but the doors were jammed shut. The engine had been pushed into the passenger side. Stephen’s seatbelt had snapped, and the key was snapped in the ignition. I was desperately trying to get him out, before the car set on fire.
“I saw, instantly, Angela had passed away, yet my brain couldn’t accept it. An off-duty paramedic came to help, and I wouldn’t let him move her, because she needed a neck brace. There was no logic, only denial. After we moved them both, the car went on fire, and I went back for Angela’s glasses, lying in the road. I still thought she’d need them.
“We were told Stephen had a fractured wrist and kneecap and it was hoped he’d be OK. Derbyshire Collision Investigation Unit were amazing, driving us both to hospital to be with him. They were so kind.
But Stephen’s injuries were worse than first thought and he was bleeding internally. Bill says: “He began to struggle, I knew he wasn’t right. He told me he loved me and Alex and he asked: ‘How’s Mam?’ I smiled and said she had a few bruises but was OK. I couldn’t bring myself to break his heart. He smiled and seemed to take it in and then he went into cardiac arrest.”
Stephen, an engineer, died four and a half hours after the crash, aged just 22. Bill says: “For many months, I was in denial. We held a joint service, and their ashes are at home with us. The council closed the libraries, for the funeral, as a mark of respect to Angela.
“People contacted me saying how she’d looked after their children at the library. So many people thought so much of her. A bench in her memory is being erected, for the library staff, in time for Angela’s birthday on December 12.”
In May 2024, Joshua Hill, 27, admitted two counts of causing death by dangerous driving shortly before his trial at Derby Crown Court. The court heard Hill attempted to overtake a vehicle on the A632 Chesterfield Road on 9 December 2023 but hit a car coming in the opposite direction.
Hill’s BMW had been seen carrying out “aggressive” overtakes ahead of the crash, with one driver reporting Hill’s passenger had rolled down the window, laughed and put his middle finger up as they sped past him. Hill fled to Sheffield and hid before being arrested on 11 December.
Ordering Hill to serve two-thirds of his 13-year sentence before being released on licence and banning him from driving for 10 years, Judge Jonathan Straw said Hill had been playing “automotive Russian roulette” in his overtaking manoeuvres. In his statement, Bill said he has “nothing but disgust and contempt” for Hill and his passenger who “stood there and did nothing” as total strangers helped his wife and youngest son.
He says: “Since Angela died, I have realised all the little things she did for us. The house is not the same and everything is a reminder of her everywhere I go I see her. I loved her so much. And if losing Angela has broken my heart, then losing Stephen has destroyed me. He was my youngest son, my baby and his death was all the more painful because at first, we thought he might survive.”
Bill has since worked with councillor Helen Weatherall in Derbyshire to have speed cameras installed on the road, which is a notorious accident blackspot. “It’s too late for our family but I don’t want anyone else to go through our pain. Speed cameras would help save lives, and I don’t understand why they’re not in place.
“Hill is scum, I have no words for him. But I’ve also been shown great kindness and love since Angela and Stephen died. I try to be positive, and Alex and I are helping each other through each day and remembering them with love.”
Alex says: “Stephen was not just my younger brother; he was my best friend. We were like a double act, we would play console games together, go play pool with friends together, go out and socialise together. We got on so well, we would know what each other was thinking at times.
“I remember that if ever he was winding mum up, I would instantly realise and join in with him and vice versa, if I started it, he would know and join in, nothing nasty just fun light-hearted stuff, he was my partner in crime. It seems silly now, but we used to fall out because his bedroom was nearer the wi-fi router and so his game would work quicker than mine, I wish I could have the argument with him today.
“ My biggest fear has always been of losing Stephen. I even had dreams before the collision that Stephen would one day die and I would be on my own, I’d wake up in a panic thinking it was real then would get relief when I’d woke to find it wasn’t. Sadly, know I wake up and never get that relief anymore, because this is real and it’s a living nightmare.
“Mum was everything a Mum should be, she used to love her books, we have a house full. She used to work in a library and would get lost in books. She liked her crafts and jewellery making. Mum was protective over me, to a fault. Every time I went out, she would check in on me via text and no matter what time I’d rock up at home the living room light would be on and she would be snoozing in the chair, not wanting to go to bed before I was back home over the threshold.
“There was always the constant worry for mum and for me not wanting her to be to be anxious, I always worried about her worrying if that makes sense. Now I hope she is truly at peace ad worries about me no more.”
