Funerals held for two victims of Shoreham air crash

A service for Maurice Abrahams, 76, took place at St Margaret’s church in Rottingdean, East Sussex, while a private ceremony was held for Jacob Schilt, 23.

Mr Abrahams, a retired former soldier and police officer, was working as a chauffeur at the time of the crash on 22 August and was on his way to pick up a bride on her wedding day when his Daimler was struck.

His body was brought to the church in a Rolls-Royce Silver Spur.

Vicar Martin Morgan told the congregation: “Thinking about him in the midst of all the horror that happened and the tragedy that happened, one of the words that keeps coming to my mind is ‘service’. He gave service to his nation in various ways – as a guardsman, as a paratrooper and as a policeman. I suspect he thought ladies liked uniform.”

Mr Schilt, who played in midfield for Worthing United, was travelling to a match with teammate Matthew Grimstone when the incident took place.

A total of 11 people were killed when a vintage Hawker Hunter jet failed to complete a loop-the-loop and crashed on to vehicles on the A27 truck road.

The crash injured 16 other people and left the pilot, former RAF jet instructor and British Airways flyer Andrew Hill, 51, in a coma. He is still being treated in a specialist hospital.

On 22 August police said they feared as many as 20 people might have died in the crash, but no more human remains were found.

Last week, West Sussex senior coroner Penelope Schofield opened an inquest in Horsham, reading out the names of the 11 victims and holding a minute’s silence.

The inquest is expected to be held next summer, following a pre-inquest review on 22 March. Ms Schofield promised a “full and fearless inquiry” into the causes of the crash.

The full inquest is expected to take place in June next year, ahead of the first anniversary of the crash.

The Shoreham victims – Top, from left to right: Daniele Polito, Dylan Archer, Graham Mallinson, Mark Reeves, Mark Trussler. Bottom, from left to right: Matthew Grimstone, Maurice Abrahams, Matt Jones, Tony Brightwell, Jacob Schilt and Richard Smith.

The victims

• Maurice Abrahams, 76: had served with the Grenadier Guards and the Parachute Regiment before joining Hampshire Police
• Dylan Archer, 42, and Richard Smith, 26: friends who were on a bike ride in the South Downs at the time of the crash
• Tony Brightwell, 53: an NHS manager, amateur pilot and aircraft enthusiast
• Matthew Grimstone, 23: played in goal for Worthing United and had worked as a groundsman for Brighton & Hove Albion FC
• Jacob Schilt, also 23: a school friend of Mr Grimstone and a fellow Worthing player. The teammates were travelling to an away match when the crash took place
• Matt Jones, 24: a personal trainer who had returned to the UK after travelling in Australia
• Daniele Polito, 23: the young father was travelling in the same car as Mr Jones
• Graham Mallinson, 72: a retired engineer and keen photographer who was hoping to capture one of the last appearances of the Vulcan bomber
• Mark Reeves, 53, had ridden his Honda motorbike to the outskirts of the air show to take photographs of the planes
• Mark Trussler, 54: was riding his motorbike on the A27 when the jet crashed

Interim report

An interim inquiry by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) showed there were “no abnormalities” with the jet and it appeared to be responding normally to the pilot’s “control input”.

Investigators said Mr Hill and his seat had been thrown clear of the wreckage of the plane, but it was not clear whether he had tried to eject before hitting the ground.

The jet was not fitted with a “black box” recorder but the AAIB is examining footage from cockpit-mounted cameras as well as other evidence.

The report said the aircraft “pitched up into a manoeuvre with both a vertical component and roll to the left, becoming almost fully inverted at the apex of the manoeuvre at a height of approximately 2,600 ft”.

“During the descent the aircraft accelerated and the nose was raised but the aircraft did not achieve level flight before it struck the westbound
carriageway of the A27 at its junction with Old Shoreham Road.”

Investigation into police ‘selfies’

Sussex Police Deputy Chief Constable Olivia Pinkney said relatives were “disappointed” to learn that two junior officers are being investigated for allegedly filming themselves near the crash site then sending the footage to a colleague via Snapchat with an “offensive” message.

The two constables, based at Brighton and Hove, have not been suspended but have been assigned duties away from the public while the forces’s professional standards department investigates their conduct.

Ms Pinkney said she had informed the victims’ families and apologised for causing “unnecessary distress”.

She added: “What has happened is that two young in-service constables were working shortly after the Shoreham air tragedy and were on the cordon, some distance from the scene itself, and they videoed themselves.

“There was nothing in that video that showed any detail of the scene but very disappointingly they attached a message to that video which was inappropriate and it was offensive.

“Those officers have let themselves down, of course, but most importantly they have let down the 11 families of the local men who died that day.”