Heartbroken family say last farewell to beautician, 21, killed with two friends in Cardiff car crash eight years after they buried her 19-year-old sister who was killed in earlier road tragedy

• Eve Smith was found inside the wreckage off the A48 in Cardiff on March 6
• She tragically died alongside friends Darcy Ross, 21, and Rafel Jeanne, 24

The heartbroken family of a young woman killed with her friends in an horrific car crash have today said goodbye to the 21-year-old – just eight years after her sister died in another road tragedy.

More than 500 mourners were at the funeral of beautician Eve Smith whose body was found inside a white Volkswagen Tiguan that was located in trees just yards off the A48 in Cardiff on March 6.

She died alongside Darcy Ross, 21, and Rafel Jeanne, 24. Bank worker Sophie Russon, 20, and Shane Loughlin, 32, were alive but badly injured. The car wreckage had been undiscovered for 46 hours.

A horse drawn carriage arrived with the coffin with a convoy including a motorcycle cortege of the Valley Commandoes bikers – and a host of pink flowers for the service in Newport, South Wales.

Those attending the funeral at St Woolo’s Cathedral wore black with ‘a touch of baby pink’ at the request of Eve’s family.

More than 500 mourners were at the funeral of beautician Eve Smith, 21

Eve Smith was found inside a white Volkswagen Tiguan that was located in trees just yards off the A48 in Cardiff in on March 6

Around 500 mourners gathered to say farewell to the 21-year-old, who died alongside two friends in the crash

Eve’s sister Xana Doyle, 19, was killed by a drunk and drugged up driver in 2015

Her death comes eight years after her sister Xana Doyle, 19, was killed when a car flipped as she was being taken to a party by a friend.

In a tribute, their other sister Sherridan said: ‘Eve, My beautiful little sister I’ve cried laughed and fought with you every week, but I’ve never been without you.

‘We always said, “I got you always”, but now I’m sat here feeling so empty because you’re not here with me anymore, and I can’t accept this.’

Eve had taken part in a Sky TV documentary after their other sister Xana Doyle was killed and the family campaigned for tougher sentences after the 2015 in a car crash.

Driver Sakhawat Ali, then 23, was high on cocaine and cannabis and twice the drink-drive limit. He was released after serving five years in jail.

Eve was 13 at the time of the tragedy while Sherridan was 15.

Following’s Xana’s death in 2015, Eve paid an emotional tribute to her saying she had ‘tragically lost my beautiful big sister’.

Eve, just 13 at the time, wrote on Facebook: ‘I never ever thought I’d have to say that or even think about it but it’s all I do. No-one will understand the agony and heartache I feel when I hear her name or see her picture.

Those attending the funeral at St Woolo’s Cathedral wore black with ‘a touch of baby pink’

A horse drawn carriage arrived with the coffin with a convoy. The horses wore baby pink feathers in a touching tribute

Lay within the flowers are emotional tributes paid to the young woman

The funeral comes eight years after the family said farewell to Xana, Eve’s sister – who also died in a car crash

READ MORE: Ex-QPR and Cardiff City player Leon Jeanne, 42, is allowed out on day release from prison for the funeral of his 24-year-old son who was killed in Cardiff car smash 

‘It’s so hard to understand or accept that she’s gone and I’m never going to be able to see her again. A million times I’ve needed her and a million times I’ve cried.

‘If my love alone could have saved her she never would have died.’

Eight years ago, 200 mourners paid their respects to the popular 19-year-old. Her mother, Emma, paid tribute to ‘a beautiful young woman’ who ‘lived life to the full’.

Her white coffin was adorned with red roses, mourners wore black with highlights of red and doves were released in her memory.

Speaking at Eve’s funeral today, Sherridan added: ‘There is no sister like you, you always made me feel so important, sending me messages to remind me how much you love me and I’d tell you just how much I loved you more!

‘You saved me from so much Eve all the times I’ve been low it was you that I’d turn to, and now I’m feeling heavy because I couldn’t save you.

‘I loved seeing you grow into this beautiful young woman and you used to get so worried that we wouldn’t be close as you grew up, but I’d remind you that sisters don’t ever break a bond and ours well there isn’t, no bond like ours my girl you’ll always be my baby sister.

‘I know you’re safe up there with our beautiful sister Xana but I was never ready to let you go, my body is aching without you, please watch over me.’

Touching written notes were slotted among flowers in tribute to Eve

The convoy included a motorcycle cortege of the Valley Commandoes bikers

Eve and Xana in a family photo taken when they were younger 

An inquest opening heard Rafel, Darcy, and Eve were identified by their mothers following the tragedy.

The missing group were reported to Gwent police on Saturday evening of March 4 and then it was raised with the neighbouring South Wales police the next day. But it took 46 hours before they were found.

The five had been to the Muffler social club in Maesglas, Newport, and travelled 40 miles onto the seaside spot of Trecco Bay in Porthcawl. They were last reported seen back in Cardiff shortly after 2am on Saturday.

The two forces involved – Gwent Police and neighbouring South Wales Police – confirmed the tragedy and an investigation into their response will be held.

Today’s funeral comes weeks after Ex-QPR and Cardiff City player Leon Jeanne, 42, once dubbed Wales’s most promising footballer, was flanked by two probation officers as he mourned son Rafel, 24, at St Peter’s Church in Cardiff.

On April 4, hundreds of mourners dressed in black attended Rafel’s funeral, with friends on quad bikes and motorbikes following the hearse alongside the family cars.

Jeanne wore a blue Nike tracksuit and was handcuffed to a probation officer as he made his way inside the church.

The former footballer was convicted of dangerous driving in 2019 after being chased by police at 100mph on the same road where his son was found dead.

Eve died in the crash alongside Darcy Ross, 21, (left) and Rafel Jeanne, 24 (right) 

Former Welsh footballer Leon Jeanne wore a blue Nike tracksuit as he attended his son’s funeral at St Peter’s Church in Cardiff on April 4

Pallbearers carry the coffin of Rafel Jeanne out of St Peter’s Church in Cardiff on April 4

Sophie Russon, 20, and Shane Loughlin, 32, were alive but badly injured – and may have gone undiscovered next to their dead friends for 46 hours

The five crash victims were returning from a night out in Cardiff when their white VW Tiguan left the road at speed and flew into trees and undergrowth

He was later sent to prison for breaching a curfew.

Four years earlier, in 2015, he had been jailed for 30 months for his part in a plot to supply cocaine.

A rugby ball with ‘Cymru’ written in flowers adorned Rafel’s hearse today alongside tributes reading ‘nephew’, ‘brother’ and ‘son’, while his own name was spelled out in yellow flowers on the roof.

The congregation sung Welsh-language hymns Calon Lan and Ar Hyd Y Nos, with his family collecting donations on behalf of the bereavement charity 2wish.

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