Heartbroken mother of Caitlin-Rose McMullan tells how grateful she is to have spent last hours with her 'best friend'

Stella, 40, was on holiday in Spain when she received the news that Caitlin had been involved in an accident.

"I was on holidays in Spain when I found out about the accident,” she said.

"Caitlin’s father and I are split up and her daddy phoned me.

"He works on the Broagh road and had come on the scene minutes after it happened.

"I was sitting in a cafe in Spain when I got the phone call and then I started running to the airport so I was able to get home and have my last hours with her”.

"As much as it’s horrific I am so grateful that I got that time,” said Stella.

"She basically died at the scene but two nurses came across her before the Air Ambulance arrived. I am so grateful to them for my last hours with her.

"Her and I were the best of friends and to get to her meant everything.

"We were inseparable. We travelled the world together, had our spas together, did everything. She was my best friend”.

Stella said when the accident happened Caitlin-Rose “was only back from Thailand” and had “already been to Australia, Mexico, Florida, Majorca, Spain and probably other places I can’t remember right now”.

"She has been half way around the world with me and she has had the best life – but she also had a lot more to do,” added Stella.

She said her daughter had “her own unique style of dressing” and that “some of the classroom assistants who came to the wake said they looked forward to seeing her on non-uniform days to see how she would be put together”.

"It could have been a fur coat and boots or whatever else he decided,” she said.

"She would have been a great influencer because she had so much more to give and that is why I feel robbed.

“I am so thankful she had an amazing life but I don’t want this to happen to anyone else”.

Stella added that Caitlin-Rose had decided “she wanted to be a beautician like me” and “was meant to start a job with me answering phones in my salon the summer”.

"She was all into makeup and lashes, nails and everything artistic really.

"She had a massive head of hair right down her back and enjoyed her weekly blowdry’s from me if you don’t mind. And it took me three hours to wash and dry.

"Even when I look at some of the photographs I can see how alike we were with the same personality I think.

"It was so nice having that connection – and she told me everything, and I know there are some children who give their parents little information.

"We have loads of pictures of what happened at different times and during her wake different parents said to me that they don’t do pictures – well that was our world.

"Now it is a comfort, but at the same time I am waiting for her to come in the door. Part of me thinks she is staying with her daddy’s house and will just walk in the door.

“I just have to keep going until I get road conditions changed around school buses so no other parent gets a phone call like I did,” she added.