By Eve Noon

A DUNDEE man whose wife of 53 years was killed in a terrifying double-decker coach crash spoke of his loss last night afterthe driver pled guilty yesterday to three counts of death by dangerous driving.

Christina Toner (76) was killed on January 3 last year when the London to Aberdeen National Express coach, in which she and her husband Jimmy were travelling home to Monifieth, overturned on the M4/M25 slip road near Heathrow airport.

Mr Toner (84), a former Dundee FC player, suffered injuries to his arm and head in the accident and he spent over a week recovering in Slough hospital.

A 30-year-old Chinese man died in the crash and a 78-year-old man from Surrey died six months later in hospital.

Many of those on the overnight coach service had to be cut from the wreckage.

Mr Toner spoke to The Courier last night after coach driver Philip Rooney (48) appeared at the Old Bailey and pleaded guilty.

“Irrespective of what he gets, it won’t bring my wife back,” Mr Toner said.

“If he’s a man at all then he will have already suffered with the guilt of taking three people’s lives and there were also children who lost limbs in the crash.

“I thought that when he pleaded guilty that would be the end of it. It will be two years in January since the crash happened—I just wish it was all over.”

For 20 years the couple had visited their daughter Gail in Swindon every year over Christmas and they would normally travel back to Broughty Ferry to celebrate New Year.

However, in 2006 they decided to spend the whole festive period with family in Swindon and then travel back on the fateful night of January 3.

He concluded, “The situation is just a sad thing. It never goes away—I am without my wife now. Any couple that’s still together have a lot to be thankful for.

“Whatever the outcome of the court case, nothing will help me anyway.”

Although Mr Toner did not want to be in court to hear events recounted, he expressed thanks to Thames Valley Police, who have maintained contact with him and kept him well informed of the case.

Rooney, from Carluke, was bailed yesterday and will be sentenced on November 24.

Mrs Toner was born in Lochee and came from a large extended family, mainly from the farming community in Aberdeenshire.

The couple spent most of their married life in Broughty Ferry, where Mrs Toner was a popular figure in the community and was involved in amateur dramatics and was ladies’ captain of Broughty Castle Bowling Club.

They moved to Monifieth about six years ago.

Mrs Toner was a personal assistant to the dean of Dundee Dental Hospital until her retirement 16 years ago.

She is survived by her husband, children Barrie and Gail and grandchildren Shelley, Alison and James and sister Helen, who also lives in Monifieth.

Pictured: Mr and Mrs Toner at their last Christmas together, taken at their daughter’s house in Swindon.