Mother and her twins, 12, die in car crash witnessed by her husband and son on their way to holiday

A mother and her two children died in a car crash on their way to a family holiday as her husband and son who were following them in a different car watched the tragic incident unfold.
Jane Baker-Lockett, 43, and her children, 12-year-old twins James and Amy Gaskin, were travelling in one of the family cars while her husband Paul Lockett, 42, and 14-year-old son Jack were following in another car. As Jane drove towards Barnstaple in Devon, her car collided with an M&S lorry on the A361 near Aller Cross at about 8.25am on Monday.

Emergency services were called to the scene following what some police officers described as one of the most shocking crashes they had seen. Police confirmed that the mother died at the scene and Amy was pronounced dead on arrival at North Devon District Hospital. James was taken to hospital in an air ambulance but died shortly after his arrival.

A van driver leapt out of his vehicle to try to help the family but could not get the car door to open no matter how hard he tried. He broke down in tears after failing to help them, according to an emotional Facebook post.
The van driver's fiancée Leanne said: "Him and my brother jumped out the van and tried their best to help but couldn't get the car door open, even with a crow bar. All he has (done) is cry at the image he has stuck in his head. Such an awful thing for the guy that has lost his family in a matter of minutes, my heart goes out to him."
A police spokesman confirmed the incident, saying: "The family were from the Milton Keynes area and were travelling in a separate vehicle from her husband and their 14-year-old son."
Inspector Richard McLellan said: "It would seem that a car travelling towards Barnstaple, for unknown reasons at the moment, has crossed the centre white line and hit an oncoming truck. 'Unfortunately, the family were travelling in two separate cars but travelling together along this road, so dad was there at the scene as well."

Neighbours paid tribute today to the family who had lived for a year in a four-bedroom terraced house in the Ashlands area of Milton Keynes.
One neighbour said: "It is very sad. They haven't lived here very long. Probably about a year. They drive a yellow Kia and a white Kia Sportage."
Another neighbour said: "It is a terrible shame. They were a lovely family. They had three children and two dogs. We pieced two and two together when we heard the news on Monday and worked out it was them. We knew they had twins and a white car."
Less than 24 hours earlier, a nine-year-old girl died after a separate crash on the same road. The child's mother and 7-year-old sibling were seriously injured in the same accident. North Devon Conservative MP Peter Heaton-Jones declared the road as "unsafe" after the two crashes. He told BBC Devon that motorists on the road are generally "taking too many risks because there are short overtaking lanes that suddenly merge at not much notice". He said he's working on securing the funds to improve the road.

The road was closed for nine hours after the accident that killed Jane and her twins while officers from the Exeter-based serious collision investigation unit of Devon and Cornwall Police examined the scene.