A MAN has spoken of the moment he leapt to his mother’s side after she was fatally injured in a crash.

Ann Lowrey, 87, died from her injuries on Thursday after a collision at Southbourne Road the day before.

Retired tax officer Mrs Lowrey was just yards from her front door when the crash occurred on Wednesday.

Her son John, 64, said he had just enjoyed his daily cup of coffee with his mum before she left the house. He and his wife Jacqui were about to leave their home when a passer-by told them they wouldn’t be able to move their car for all the emergency service vehicles.

Mr Lowrey said his first thought was to run to the scene.

“They said there was a woman lying in the road,” he said. “I just ran out and barged my way between the police and the paramedics. They were all trying to hold me back.”

Mr Lowrey, who formerly worked for the ambulance service, said his own mother was the worst crash victim he had ever seen in terms of injury.

She suffered multiple injuries to her legs, arms and fingers.

“She was just lying on the ground screaming because they were trying to straighten her out to get her onto the board,” he said.

“I just stayed with her until they took her into the ambulance. A policeman took me down to Poole Hospital to be with her.”

Mrs Lowrey died from her injuries at around 7pm on Thursday.

Mr Lowrey said hospital staff had told him that even if his mother had survived the crash she would have had to have both her legs amputated as well as one of her arms at the elbow, such was the extent of her injuries.

“It was just too much and I guess she just gave up in the end,” Mr Lowrey said. “To see your own mother like that - I was with the ambulance service for two years and I’d never seen anyone that bad. It has been so traumatic.”

Mr Lowrey said his mother was a recognised face in the community, well known for her sharp tongue.

“If something wasn’t right she would say something,” he added. “She was that type of woman who fought for what was right.”

Officers have launched a witness appeal. Anyone with information is asked to call 101 quoting reference 26:134.