Family pay tribute to ‘beautiful and quirky’ woman killed by boyfriend in car crash

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The family of a woman killed when a car being driven dangerously by her boyfriend crashed and flipped on the road have paid tribute to her.

Briony Watkins, aged 24, was in the passenger seat of her boyfriend Sam Box’s Nissan 200 SX on the evening of 28 April 2023 when the vehicle collided with a bank at the side of the road.

The couple had been driving on the A39 at Crimp, in Cornwall, in foggy conditions when the crash took place, Devon and Cornwall Police said.

Briony, from Pendeen, suffered catastrophic injuries was taken to hospital, where she was pronounced dead a short time later.

Box, 25, also sustained serious injuries, but was released from hospital after receiving treatment.

He later pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, and was sentenced at Truro Crown Court on Friday to seven and a half years in prison.

The court was shown footage showing Box – of Penstowe Road, in Kilkhampton – carrying out dangerous manoeuvres in the vehicle with Briony in the passenger seat shortly before the crash, police said.

The force said he had driven at inappropriate speeds for the foggy conditions at the time of the crash.

Following sentence, Briony’s family paid tribute to her life, with her sister Sophie saying she “is missed more than we could ever express”.

“Her smile and infectious laugh, her beauty, her calm understanding and her quirky ways,” she said.

“Briony was not only my little sister but my god daughter and, after her father left, like my own child and my best friend. The loss we feel is immeasurable.”

Describing singing as having meant “everything” to Briony, her mother Janine said: “She used to fill our house with her beautiful voice which brought me so much pride and joy to hear. Now the silence is deafening.

“Her love of bees, forget-me-knots and peonies will live with me and many of her friends forever through the tattoos we have had done to remember her by. Losing her has left me lifeless and I count down the days until I can join her.

“She will always be in my heart and thoughts, and I miss her every minute of every day.”

Following the sentencing, PC Sarah Harvey, said: “The sentence passed by Judge Climie shows the serious nature of this incident. The manner of driving by Box resulted in the tragic loss of a young life that so easily could have been avoided.”

“Dangerous driving is any driving that falls far below that of a careful and competent driver, in essence if you wouldn’t do it in a driving test then you shouldn’t do it on the road.

“Cutting the number of deaths and injuries that occur on our roads every day is a responsibility we all share.”