RoadPeace Challenge in memory of Charlie “Flump” Owen

As part of this year’s RoadPeace Challenge 2024, Northamptonshire Roads Policing officer PC Emilie Bunkall has been retracing the last journeys of some of the people who have lost their lives on our roads.

Yesterday (Thursday, May 16), Emile was joined by Kelly Owen, whose 18-year-old son Charlie – known affectionately as Flump – tragically died following a single-vehicle collision on a rural road.

Flump was the front seat passenger in his friend’s Fiat Punto car as it travelled along Kettering Road, between Kettering and Pytchley, at about 10.15pm on Friday, October 29, 2021, when the 19-year-old driver lost control and collided with a tree.

To raise awareness of the devastating impact, and the true cost of road collisions, Emilie, Kelly and Flump’s 10-year-old sister Georgie visited Flump’s memorial at Kettering Skatepark in Grantown Close, on the town’s Ise Lodge estate, before driving to the location of the crash.

Kelly said: “On October 29, 2021, my heart broke forever. There is a massive Flump-size hole in our lives, and we miss his beautiful smile, the sound of his laughter and just his crazy, caring ways every day.

“Flump was my soulmate and best friend as well as my son. Next month (June 20) we should have been celebrating his 21st birthday, and that is the hardest thing to accept, not being able to make more precious memories with him.

“Your 21st birthday is a milestone in life and if Flump was still here, we would have planned the best drum ‘n’ bass surprise party for him, which was his favourite music. His best mate, Haydn would have been the DJ bringing it all together.

“These last three years have been a nightmare without Flump, but I would like to thank Emilie and DCs Rae Pegg and Lauren El Sharkawi from the Serious Collision Investigation Unit for their support at the worst time of my life.”

Emilie added: “Along with colleagues from the Roads Policing Team, I was one of the officers who responded to the report that there had been a serious road collision in Kettering Road, not knowing what we were going to face.

“While we attend the scene of a collision in uniform, we are also human beings with families, and it is always incredibly hard when someone has lost their life. We know this is someone’s loved one and that their death will have a devastating impact on those left behind.

“That night I spent time with Charlie’s mum Kelly at the roadside and what stood out to me was how brave and patient she was while her much-loved son was cared for by East Midlands Ambulance Service and a policing colleague.

“To hear the sad update on my police radio, knowing I would be telling another mum that her beautiful boy had been killed, is something I never want to do. How do you say those words knowing their lives will change and their hearts broken forever?

“After losing my mum in a road collision in 2013, I knew the difficult journey which lay ahead for Kelly and all of Charlie’s family and friends and I truly felt sorry that this had happened to them. Charlie and his family will forever be in my thoughts.”

Emilie started her five-day challenge on Monday (May 15) with not only a gruelling 15.89-mile cycle ride, signifying the 1,589 casualties killed or injured on the county's roads in 2023, but her route included the location where her life changed forever.

On June 6, 2013, she was on duty on the A5 between Towcester and the Weedon crossroads - when she heard over her police radio that her beautiful mum Julie had died in a collision in the north of the county.

On day two (Tuesday, May 14), she put on her running shoes to complete another fantastic 13.18-miles. This time to represent the 1,318 people injured on our county roads last year.

Emilie jogged along John Clarke Way in Rushden and a section of the A509 at Wollaston – both locations of fatal and injury collisions – as well as Irchester, which is home to a close family friend, Bernie, who was in the collision with Emilie’s mum.

Wednesday (May 15) was another very personal route for Emilie, who was joined by her sister Lesley and niece Sophie, which started on the A6 at Burton Latimer, pausing at the scene of the collision to remember their mum and nanna.

They continued through Finedon and Irthlingborough before finishing at the former home of Julie in Higham Ferrers. Collectively they completed 24.2 miles, representing the 242 people seriously injured on the county’s roads last year.

Today (Friday, May 17), Emilie completes her marathon effort, cycling along the A43 corridor taking in the villages of Stanion, Weldon, Bulwick and Blatherwycke in the north of the county, again the location of fatal and serious collisions.

To round off her week of #RoadPeaceChallenge2024 activities, Emilie has organised a FREE a multi-agency road safety event at Northampton’s Abington Park this Saturday (May 18). This will take place near to the Wellingborough Road entrance, between 10am and 2pm. For more information about this event, click here.