School 'quiet' centre commemorates Dunstable brothers killed in Newbury

  • Published
Ethan Houghton, Aimee Goldsmith and Josh HoughtonImage source, Facebook
Image caption,

Ethan (left) was killed alongside Aimee Goldsmith and his brother Josh (right)

A building for pupils who need "quiet time" has opened at a school to honour two brothers killed by a lorry driver who was distracted by his phone.

Ethan and Joshua Houghton, aged 13 and 11, died when Tomasz Kroker smashed into stationary traffic.

The brand new Reflection Centre, built at All Saints Academy in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, was opened by their father Doug Houghton.

He said: "I could not have asked for anything better".

The brothers were killed on the A34 near Newbury, Berkshire in August 2016 along with their mother, Tracy Houghton, 45, and her partner's daughter Aimee Goldsmith, 11.

Ethan was a pupil at the Dunstable high school and Josh was due to start there in September that year.

Image caption,

Doug Houghton wore a Back To The Future T-shirt and said: "If I could turn back time, I would"

'Lives cut short'

Mr Houghton said the new building was "absolutely beautiful".

"It's a nice touch for their memory to go on in this school," he said.

David Fraser, the school's chairman of governors, said: "It is a space that people can come to and reflect and take time out if they are suffering from any tragedies, or anything that they need quiet time for.

"Their lives were cut short. We need to remember them for ever and this is a symbol of that memory."

Image caption,

The Reflection Centre at All Saints Academy was paid for by donations and an endowment fund

Kroker was jailed for 10 years in 2016 after he admitted causing the four deaths by dangerous driving.

The court heard he was scrolling through music selections at the time of the crash.

Mr Houghton said he was still living with the "horrendous" consequences of the crash and continued to see people using a phone while driving.

He said: "If four deaths isn't enough [to stop people using phones at the wheel], I don't know what it will take."

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