'I'm using my mum's death to help others'

4 hours ago

Alex PopeNorthamptonshire

News image — This is the fifth consecutive year that PC Emilie Bunkall has installed a memorial in a public place

Northamptonshire Police Emilie Bunkall with dark hair tied back. She is looking at the camera and wearing a purple T-shirt with white writing that says "The RoadPeace Andy Cox Challenge Julie Bunkall", together with the date of her mother's death, 6 June 2013. — This is the fifth consecutive year that PC Emilie Bunkall has installed a memorial in a public place

Thirteen years ago, PC Emilie Bunkall's mother Julie died in a road crash.

Her death left a lasting impact on the Northamptonshire Police roads policing officer, and she says there "are still times when I want to collapse to the floor and scream".

But through her grief, PC Bunkall wanted to make a difference.

With her sister Lesley, she has painstakingly created a display to commemorate the 26 people who lost their lives on the county's roads in 2025.

It can be seen at Stanwick lakes until Monday.

Family handout An image of Julie Bunkhall, smiling at the camera. She has short dark hair and is in a room with wooden seats behind her. She has on a light top with a strap on one shoulder. The image is slightly blurred. — Julie Bunkall "always helped people, she brought us up well, and installed good values, this is what we try to hold on to" her daughter Emilie said

The display includes a silhouette of PC Faizaan Najeeb, who died when he was struck by a car while attending a crash on Station Road in Raunds on 19 September.

Another is for a member of the policing family who died on their way to work.

The commemoration also contains 331 doves, with each bird representing someone who sustained a significant injury on our roads, and 1,354 county flags - to mark the number of people who received a slight injury in a collision.

Jenny Kirk/BBC A photo of PC Faizaan Najeeb, pictured in uniform, is printed and framed. It is fixed to an easel in a hall. — PC Faizaan Najeeb died when he was struck by a car while responding to an incident in September 2025

PC Bunkall said her mother, 70, who lived in Rushden, "was a chatterbox but an easy listening ear which meant she had many friends".

"She cared deeply about her friends and family and helped them whenever or however she could," she added.

She was known as Nanny Juju to her grandchildren Sophie, Josh and Charlie.

"She would now be a great nanny of four great grandchildren, Frankie, Cade, Kaiser and Maeve, which is something that makes us very sad, she would have idolised them as they would her," she said.

"On 6 June 2013 I was on duty returning to the police station when my sergeant received a point to point on the radio.

"Unexpectedly - and without any chance to prepare for the awful life-changing news - I heard my mother had been killed in a road traffic collision on the A6 at Burton Latimer."

She says she went into a robotic response and later found out her mother had been killed instantly.

Her mother was "the kindest person and did not deserve this" but through her death she has "continued to help others".

She says the family allowed her post mortem examination to be part of a trial to reduce the need for intrusive post mortems in other cases, a policy that has been implemented and used across the UK.