Loving' Father, 42, Killed On School Run After His AND His Wife's Cars Both Plunge Off Same Icy Road Into River Within Minutes Of Each Other

A man died yesterday as his wife battled to save him when both their cars skidded off a bridlepath into an icy river.
David and Ruth Cox were driving their children to separate schools when their vehicles flipped over and plunged into the water moments apart.
Mrs Cox, 39, and both children, Ioan, nine, and Tess, 11, freed themselves from the vehicles and swam to the bank, but Mr Cox was said to have been unconscious in the front of his blue Toyota Aygo.

Witnesses told how Ioan ran three-quarters of a mile back down the path to tell neighbours ‘Daddy’s trapped’, while Tess ran back and forth twice to get help.
Neighbours and Mrs Cox frantically tried to free Mr Cox, 42, but it was around 40 minutes before he was carried to the riverbank.
A lack of mobile phone signal in the area and the icy conditions meant emergency services arrived 30 minutes after the cars left the road.
Last night, both the Aygo and the second vehicle, a silver Toyota Rav4, could be seen upturned side by side in the River Wye half-a-mile from the family’s cottage at Blackwell Mill, near Buxton, Derbyshire.

Neighbour Victoria Bamber, 32, who was the first person alerted to the accident by Ioan, waded into the icy water and battled in vain to save Mr Cox.
She said: ‘Ioan came banging on the door saying, “There’s been an accident, Daddy is trapped”.

'When I got to the scene I could only see the silver 4x4 upside down in the water and Ruth was desperately trying to find David. I jumped in the water. It was freezing cold and came above my waist. I kept diving down but I could not see anything.
‘The 4x4 had landed up against the driver’s door (of the Aygo) so David couldn’t get out. The rear window was smashed and I think that was how Tess had managed to get out of the car.
'We were trying to get in through the passenger door but we couldn’t move it. Then I picked up a large rock and smashed the window. The electrics gave out and the central locking failed and we got the door open.’

She said she helped drag Mr Cox from the car, before the emergency services began CPR on the riverside.
The family were airlifted to Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, 20 miles away, but while the mother and children were released after treatment, Mr Cox could not be saved.
Mrs Bamber said she was in ‘total shock’ at what had unfolded. ‘I can’t imagine what Ruth is feeling right now. She did everything she could. She did her best to get David out.
‘Now I’m left thinking I let her and the children down. I did my best but it was not enough.’
The slow flowing river was about 3ft deep at the accident scene. Locals described the condition of the track as appalling, with ice on top of frozen snow.
The family only moved in to the £250,000 property a year ago.
Caitlin Blake, a former neighbour of the couple, from Alton, Hampshire, described Mr Cox as a 'lovely man'.
The 33-year-old said: 'David and Ruth were so close. When they lived here they were very private and spent nearly all of their time together. David was always a loving father.'
Another former neighbour added: 'David was very family orientated and spent a lot of his time with his children.

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