Family pay tribute to Bishop's Cleeve man

The family of a Bishops Cleeve man, who died following a car crash on Mother's Day, have paid tribute to his memory.

22-year-old Jamie Lea suffered serious injuries in the incident on the A453 and was taken to Cheltenham General Hospital before being transferred to Frenchay Hospital in Bristol. He passed away in hospital on Tuesday March 16 with his family by his side.

Jamie's mum Sue (56), dad Pete (63), his three sisters Claire (36), Sarah (34) and Rebecca (26) and his girlfriend Joanne (23) said that he was a kind, loving and very generous young man.

Jamie’s dad Pete said; “I will miss everything about him.  Jamie succeeded at everything he did and he had a bright and full life ahead of him.”  

Born in Cheltenham, Jamie went to Swindon Village Primary School before moving onto Pittville School. After leaving school Jamie started working as a telephone systems engineer at his brother-in-law’s company Total Ltd and had worked there for six years.

Whilst working at Total Jamie met his girlfriend Joanne. She said; “It probably comes from having three sisters but Jamie was an incredibly good listener, he was very sensitive and was the best boyfriend you could ask for.”

The youngest of Pete and Sue’s children, Jamie always looked out for his sisters. Sarah said; “Jamie was our much loved little brother. He was so positive about everything and everyone and we all know that he would have done anything to support us.”

“He really didn’t have a bad word to say about anyone,” added Rebecca.  

Jamie was also a doting Uncle to his three nieces; Courteney (13), Reanna (5) and Kiera (5) and his three nephews; Jordan (15), Jack (8) and Jacob (2). “Jamie was an amazing uncle to all of his nieces and nephews and their love for him was shown in their nickname for him, ‘King Jamie’,” said his sister Claire.  

Jamie was an Arsenal supporter and until three years ago he was a keen car enthusiast but whilst he still took great pride in his car his interests started to lead him elsewhere and he was always very much a family man.

“Jamie came to see me on Mother’s Day with a large card and present. He told me how much he loved me. The thought of never holding Jamie in my arms again is breaking my heart” said Sue.

She continued; “Six years ago my daughter Sarah was also taken to Frenchay Hospital critically ill and we all hoped for a miracle and were so lucky and grateful that she survived and is still with us today. When Jamie was taken to Frenchay last week we prayed for the same miracle but sadly our prayers weren’t answered.

”We’re a very close family and are all supporting each other through this and I’d like to thank my sister, Jamie’s Auntie Karen, who loved and cared for Jamie through every step of his life. My husband Paul, who has such great admiration for Jamie and everything he achieved, has also been a tower of strength to all of us over the last week and to him I’d like to say a big thank you from all the family.”  

Karen said that Jamie was such a special boy who grew up into a wonderful young man, a great nephew who will be so sadly missed.

Joanne said; “I’d like to say a big thank you to Jamie’s friends Luke , Carl, Lee, Ryan, Mickey, Del and Emma. He was really close to his friends and they’ve been so kind. I’d also like to say thank you to everyone at Total for their support of both me and all of Jamie’s family. We’re all going to miss him so much.”

Jamie’s funeral will be held at St Michael’s church in Bishops Cleeve on Thursday March 25 at 2.30pm.