Mum's safety plea after year of 'unimaginable trauma' following husband's motorcycle death

  • ITV News Anglia's Claire McGlasson spoke to Chelsie Roberts about her first Christmas without her husband Brad

A young mum facing her first Christmas without her husband is urging people to be more aware of how vulnerable motorcyclists can be on the roads.

Chelsie Roberts from Littleport in Cambridgeshire said her family had been through a year of "unimaginable trauma" after father-of-two Brad was killed by a car pulling out of a junction in January.

She said it would be a difficult time for her and her five-year-old twins Theo and Isla as they struggled to come to terms with a very different Christmas.

"We don't have our Brad so there won't a proud dad sat on the sofa watching the children open their gifts. There won't be that extra pair of hands... there's going to be a massive hole and this one is going to hurt a lot.

"Brad was a very big personality and a vital member of our family and all of a sudden that is gone.

"Every day we are plagued by it and it's hard to feel festive and merry and like you want to celebrate. Instead we are surviving and continuing to survive and there's not much room for anything else."

Mr and Mrs Roberts with their twins last Christmas. Credit: Family picture

Last week, the woman who knocked Mr Roberts off his bike was given an eight-month sentence suspended for two years after she admitted causing death by careless driving.

The court heard Alicja Grabska, 65, made the "tragic decision" to pull out of a junction in her Nissan Qashqai despite having seen Mr Roberts coming.

Brad Roberts died at the scene when he was knocked off his motorcycle on the way home Credit: Family picture

He was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash at the junction of the A1101 Mildenhall Road and Mile End Road, at Littleport on 31 January.Grabska, of Dogwood Walk, RAF Lakenheath, in Brandon, Suffolk, was arrested at the scene.She was also ordered to complete 160 hours of unpaid work and disqualified from driving for two years.

Bradley Roberts with his twin son and daughter. Credit: Family picture

Mrs Roberts said she knew something was wrong when her husband did not arrive home that evening, and she started to see reports of a serious collision on social media.

"Instinctively I think I knew and I was frozen right there looking out of the window praying that the next set of lights would be his," she said.

Instead, a police car pulled up outside to give her the worst news she could imagine.

The couple were keen motorcyclists and took an interest in road safety and how to avoid trouble on the roads.

Local bikers turned out to pay their respects to Mr Roberts at his funeral and are backing Mrs Roberts' safety campaign.

She said she does not want any other families to go through the torment that hers has had to face over the past year.

"Before, our home would be filled with the sound of him and the kids laughing, the Xbox and TV ringing out the sound of his favourite games as he taught the children to play, or the dining table would be covered with various vehicle or remote controlled car parts as he taught me and the little ones his skills.

"Now, our home has become an empty, quiet house," she said.

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