The wife'll sort it: Man whose home was wrecked in plane crash refuses to abandon his golfing holiday

13 April 2012

Relaxed: Edwin Harman enjoying his golfing holiday yesterday

Edwin Harman, 72, was on a golf course in Portugal when the plane ploughed into his £450,000 suburban house in Orpington, Kent, on Sunday afternoon.

Curbing the impulse to rush home, Mr Harman completed another round yesterday before saying: "My wife was two minutes from our house, on her way back from her separate holiday, when the plane hit.

"She's pretty shaken. I'm told there's not much left. But I'm trying not to let it spoil my holiday."

He spoke as friends and relatives paid tribute to pilot Mike Roberts, 63, co-pilot Mike Chapman, 47, and passengers Richard Lloyd, 63, David Leslie, 54, and Christopher Allarton, 25, who were on their way to a motorsports event in France when the crash happened.

Mr Roberts, from Effingham, Surrey, was said to have guided the Cessna Citation away from a playing field after it took off from Biggin Hill and apparently suffered engine trouble.

Children playing football nearby said he tried to wave them out of the way before he crashed. Mr Roberts was described as heroic by a policeman at the scene yesterday.

Patricia Harman, 68, who has three children from her previous marriage, was on her way back from Madeira at the time. She was later seen sobbing outside her ruined home.

But her husband, a retired insurance executive who spoke to the Daily Mail from the Castro Marim golf course in the Algarve, was more relaxed.

He finished a round with eight friends from Chelsfield Lakes Golf Club, near Orpington, before telling how he was mid-putt when he discovered the house had been hit.

Mr Harman said: "My friend Pete Wood was on the phone to his wife - and she told him there had been some sort of accident at my house.

"He told me the plane had just clipped my roof. I thought it had maybe knocked the chimney off.

Shaken: Patricia Harman was seen sobbing outside her ruined home

"Then we sat and watched it burn on TV. It didn't hit home really. I don't think about material things - I just think how lucky we were not to have been there."

Mr Harman added: "I'm sure the reality will kick in when I get back. I've spoken to my insurers, who asked if I could go to the house with them today. I told them it wasn't possible because I'm on holiday.

"My wife has got very good taste and the house was nicely decorated. And I'll miss all the photographs we had of course."

He went on: "Working in insurance I've seen these kind of things claimed for, but you never think it will happen to you. Now we'll have to rebuild our house.

"But I was adamant I would enjoy this last day of my holiday - and that's what I'm doing now."

The investigation into what caused the Cessna's apparent engine failure has begun but Chief Superintendent Charles Griggs confirmed there was no "black box" recorder on the plane, which is not unusual for private jets.

The bodies of the victims were moved from the scene yesterday.

Co-pilot Mr Chapman, who lived in Shoreham with wife Kathy, was said to have many years of flying experience.

Mr Lloyd was a former racing driver and created his own team, Apex Motorsport, 30 years ago. He was married with three daughters and lived near Brackley, Northamptonshire.

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Ruined: The shell of the Harmans' £450,000 home yesterday following Sunday's Cessna crash which killed all five on board

With him was Mr Leslie, another racing driver, who was to help test a new car at the Nogoara circuit. He was married with two sons and lived near Banbury, Oxfordshire.

The youngest victim was Mr Allarton who joined Apex only a week ago. A graduate of Coventry University, he lived in the city with girlfriend Jane Oswin, 24.

His father Richard, 50, a computer lecturer at York University, said: "Chris met a beautiful girl, finished university, and got himself a great job. I have lost the light of my life."

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