Mum’s heartbreak as her hubby is killed in motorbike accident ONE HOUR before her sister dies of cancer
Lorraine said: "When the police told me that he had gone my world just fell apart - I was with my family as we were all preparing for my sister's death"
A HEARTBROKEN mum has told how her world fell apart when her husband died in a motorbike accident just ONE HOUR before her sister lost a battle with lung cancer.
Lorraine Allaway, from Skipton, North Yorkshire, found out that her beloved husband Bob, 46, had been killed in a motorcycle accident while she was by her sister's deathbed on October 3 last year.
The 59-year-old mum-of-five rushed to the scene to discover Bob had been killed after colliding head-on with a drink driver who was driving on the wrong side of the road.
One hour later, Lorraine returned to her sister's home and had one last conversation before her 56-year-old sister Ellen passed away.
She said: "I was with my family as we were all preparing for my sister's death. My nephew came and told me there had been a motorbike accident and I felt my heart sink.
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"I decided to go down to the scene of the accident in the hope that it wasn't him but it was.
"To be taken just like that is beyond belief.
"He didn't deserve to die in the way he did, especially that day when we as a family were already prepared for the loss of my sister.
";It was without a doubt the hardest and most painful experience of my life."
Her husband was riding his motorbike along the A65 near Settle, North Yorkshire, when the incident took place.
Bob was involved in the head-on collision with 48-year-old Andrew Crook's Nissan Note at midday.
Crook, from Swinnow, Leeds, was nearly two-and-a-half times the legal limit.
Following a North Yorkshire Police investigation, officers found that Crook drove his vehicle across double solid white lines onto the wrong side of the road before colliding with Bob's motorbike.
Crook pleaded guilty to causing Bob's death by driving without due care and attention.
He was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison at Bradford Crown Court in May this year, and slapped with a five year and eight month driving ban.
Office manager Lorraine is throwing her support behind a police drink-drive awareness campaign initiative more than a year after the accident, to ensure others do not experience a similar tragedy.
Lorraine said: "The years I spent with Bob were the best of my life as he was the love of my life and my best friend before anything else.
"It took me a long time to find him but I wouldn't swap him for anything.
"He was my soulmate – he is the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about at night.
"My life was filled with jokes and laughter when he was here but now I get up and go to work and come back and go to bed.
"It's such a shock every day to not have him there.
"I have grown up children. They doted on Bob and he doted on them and it has affected them deeply.
"Nothing is going to make up for the suffering our family and friends have had to deal with but they keep sharing the memories of him which is the most important thing."
Lorraine and her family had been mentally preparing themselves Ellen's death since she was diagnosed with lung cancer in August 2015.
Her situation was desperate as she could not undergo chemotherapy.
Lorraine said: "We knew the time was coming and that it was the last time we would all be together. It was horrendous.
"I had accepted Ellen's fate but the shock of Bob's death was so painful – nobody can prepare you for that.
"When we went back to my sister's house I just said to her, 'I'm sorry but I have got to go but Bob will be here to take you on the next part of your journey. Take his hand and go with him'.
"The one thing that kept me going is the fact that Bob gave up his life to guide her forward to the next stage."
Since Bob's death, Lorraine has been struggling to pay her mortgage and is facing the possibility of losing her house.
Lorraine said: "I could lose my home through no fault of my own.
"Bob was providing the biggest part of our finances and I am working but at the minute there's more going out than there is coming in.
"It's the last thing I want to have to be dealing with. Losing Bob was enough.
Speaking about Crook's sentence this May, TC Dave Seavers from North Yorkshire Police's Major Collision Investigation Team, said: "This was an utterly tragic case which has left Bob's family devastated by his loss.
"Crook gave no consideration to the safety of other road users that day and got behind the wheel with a blatant disregard for the law.
"The bad choice Crook made meant that a man has lost his life through no fault of his own and his family faces a future without a loved one."