School mourns third death in 12 months

Staff, parents and children at an Exeter school are mourning their third death in just 12 months.

St James School student Leo Gregory was killed last Thursday when he was in collision with a lorry near a crossing on Topsham Road off the Countess Wear roundabout.

Just six weeks ago, many of those who knew Leo were marking the passing of teacher Paul Campbell who died aged 46.

And last year, former student Jade Harris also passed away.

Humanities teacher Mr Campbell, whose wife Sam also teaches at the school, had been battling cancer.

A father of two, he had worked at St James for more than 17 years

Emergency services were called to Topsham Road near Countess Wear at 3.10pm on Thursday 28 August, after a collision between Leo, from Exeter, and a skip lorry at the pedestrian crossing.

He sustained serious injuries and was taken to Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital where he was pronounced deceased shortly after arrival.

The lorry driver was uninjured.

The road was closed for five hours while serious collision investigators carried out an examination of the scene.

CCTV footage from the scene shows a cyclist cycling close to the collision just after it has occurred.

This cyclist travels from Countess Wear roundabout direction, crosses Topsham road between the scene & the roundabout onto the south side of Topsham road, then cycles away from the roundabout towards Topsham.  The cyclist appears to be wearing a dark top and white trousers.

Officers are keen to speak to the cyclist as a potential witness who may have information.

Police are appealing to the cyclist to contact them on 101 quoting incident number 480 of 28th August.

Residents had concerns about crossing

http://www.theexeterdaily.co.uk/news/residents-had-concerns-about-crossing