News, South East
Families of those killed in the Shoreham Airshow crash have spoken about the moment they found out about the tragedy – and how they have coped over the past 10 years.
Kelly Will, whose 23-year-old brother Daniele Polito died in the disaster, said she had moved to the US two weeks before her mum called with the news.
“She was just crying down the phone, blurting it out in such terror and torment,” Ms Will told the .
“I can’t even express the feelings and words… to hear that feeling of absolute anguish.
“I couldn’t think. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t eat. I felt nauseous and sick”.
Daniele and 10 other men died when a Hawker Hunter fighter jet crashed onto the A27 in West Sussex on 22 August 2015.
It was one of the worst airshow disasters in UK history.
Daniele’s other sister, Marina Polito, said the sound of her mum’s grief-stricken wail was something she could “never unhear”.
Ms Polito said she had been in denial about what happened for months after and even went to a police station to view a photo of Daniele’s body to convince herself it was really him.
‘The worst thing’
A coroner blamed vintage aircraft pilot Andy Hill for the crash at an inquest in 2022 after an Old Bailey jury cleared him of manslaughter in 2019.
Mr Hill fought a long, ultimately unsuccessful legal battle to get his pilot’s licence reinstated.
Once a “strong, independent and feisty” woman, Ms Will said the ordeal of losing her son had caused her mum’s health to deteriorate and she had eventually died of cancer.
“As parents ourselves that is the worst thing you could possibly go through in the world,” she said. “End of story.”
The sisters said family and friends had got them through the “doom and gloom”.
“It was amazing. The local community came together to take care of us,” Ms Will said, detailing how people had cooked for them and baked cakes.
“We’re still grateful to this day. Honestly, I don’t think we could have survived without that support.”
The accident taught the family not to waste anything, according to Ms Polito.
She said: “There are a lot of sayings and mottos… but I think if you don’t go through it, you don’t really understand [things like] living to the fullest.
“We really do. Life can change in the blink of an eye.”
Denise Morris said it felt like yesterday that her 53-year-old brother Mark Reeves was killed while riding to the airshow.
In the early years, she said what had happened was constantly on her mind.
“It was a very dark time,” Ms Morris said.
She said her family had spent a fraught day continuously calling Mark’s phone, only learning at midnight that his motorcycle had been involved in the crash.
“That was the beginning of a rollercoaster of uncertainty,” she said, adding they still hoped he might have survived.
It was confirmed by DNA analysis the next day Mark had died.
Breaking down in tears, she said telling her elderly parents was the hardest thing she had ever done.
“Horrific things happen to people every day around the world,” Ms Morris said.
“But you never dream it’s going to be you, your family or someone you love.”
She said her dad, who had taken them to airshows as children, had never accepted declining Mark’s invite to go to the show – believing this might have saved his life as they would have gone together in a car.
Now when she thinks of Mark, Ms Morris said she remembered the “good times”.
“He loved parties. He loved dancing. He loved music,” she said. “He was really fun.”
But Ms Morris added she felt sad doing things she knew Mark would have loved.
“He doted on his granddaughters – he really did,” she said.
“They’ve missed the amazing influence of their grandad.”
