Men lost in fatal demolition collapse remembered

The families of four men killed when a decommissioned power station collapsed have said it "feels unreal" that 10 years have passed since their deaths.

Didcot Power Station's coal-fired A plant had been set for demolition when part of its boiler house came down on 23 February 2016.

Ken Cresswell, 57, John Shaw, 61, both from Rotherham, Michael Collings, 53, from Teesside, and Christopher Huxtable, 34, from Swansea, died in the collapse. It took more than six months for all four of the men's bodies to be recovered.

Marking a decade since his death, the family of Ken Cresswell said: "The pain remains as deep and as raw as it was on 23 February 2016."

"The irreplaceable void left in our lives is something we carry every single day," the Cresswell family said in a statement.

"He is missed beyond words - every day, every hour, in every part of our lives."

Sandra Huxtable, Christopher's mother, said: "This has been the hardest ten years of my life."

"No mother expects to lose a child."

Christopher's daughter Tia Huxtable said it "feels unreal" that a decade has passed since the incident.

"It feels like forever since the day I lost a huge part of me - my amazing dad," she said.

"He's not going to walk me down the aisle, he's not going to meet his future grandchildren or see the life I build."

"Those are moments that will always feel incomplete without him."

"But as long as I continue to make my dad proud, I know I'll be okay."

"He will never be forgotten, and he will most certainly never walk alone."

Paying tribute to Michael Collins, his family said in a statement that in the ten years since his death "somehow the world has kept moving, even when it felt impossible".

"Time will never erase you."

"Your laughter and your smile taught us that joy matters, that life is there to be lived, and that a good laugh can carry us through the hardest moments."

"We miss your smile, we miss your laugh and we carry them with us, always."

"Forever loved. Forever remembered."

John Shaw's daughter Kirsty said: "Ten years ago today, our hard-working, loving dad and husband went to work and never returned home."

"Time may go on for everyone else; however, my family and I still remember every single moment from that day - from the power station collapse up to the moment he was found and laid to rest," she added.

A joint investigation by Thames Valley Police and the Health and Safety Executive into the tragedy is ongoing, and expected to conclude this year.

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