Shoreham Airshow disaster: Son's heartbreaking 5 words after dad died in fireball

The ex-partner of a man killed in the Shoreham Airshow disaster is demanding a criminal probe into the tragedy which claimed 11 lives is re-opened.

Tanya Hewstone, 30, is set to launch a new petition calling for a fresh investigation into the actions of pilot Andy Hill who was severely injured in the crash and cleared of manslaughter following a trial in 2019. Mr Hill was at the controls of a Hawker Hunter T7 jet which crashed on the A27 close to the boundary of Shoreham airport in West Sussex on August 22, 2015.

Tanya's ex-partner, Daniele Polito, 23, who is the father of their son Georgio, 13, was among those killed as he was driving along the A27. Ten years on, she says her son has been excluded from multiple schools because of anger issues.

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Hill has also reapplied for his pilot's licence twice- which Tanya says shows a "lack of remorse" - with the latest application refused in May 2025 by the High Court. Tanya, a full-time mum from West Sussex, said: "Georgio has a lot of trauma. His words were, 'My dad died for nothing'. For a child to say that it was really hard.

"I think it's hard for anyone to be a single parent to be a completely alone parent - because Georgio's a boy, I don't know how to answer the questions he has sometimes as he grows up. I feel like I've taken the full force of him losing his dad. The last 10 years have been really hard."

Daniele was travelling in a BMW with his work colleague, Matt Jones, when their car was hit by the plane. Tanya and Daniele were formerly engaged but hadn't been together in the three months leading up to the crash. Tanya didn't tell Georgio for more than two weeks about his dad's death as she didn't know how to.

She added: "I was feeding the ducks with him when it happened, but I didn't find out Daniele had died until the following morning. When I told him I said, 'Daddy had been involved in an accident and he had to go up to the sky'. I had his grandma with me at the time and Georgio said he was going to get his dad from the sky. A year after the accident he was on a plane on holiday, and he said he didn't see his dad."

In December 2022, a coroner ruled that the victims were unlawfully killed and described Hill's flying as "exceptionally bad". The recent Air India crash which left 270 people dead - including a number of people on the ground - has "triggered" Tanya and she is determined to get the case reopened.

She said: "There should be justice for all the families. He applied for his pilot's license twice since and that shows no remorse - they've both been rejected."

Tomorrow, on the 10-year anniversary, Tanya and Georgio will be paying their respects to Daniele in their own way. She said: "It doesn't feel like it's been 10 years at all, but we're going to go down to the bridge where the memorial is and pay our respects there. It's weird to think it's been 10 years and no justice, no closure - I can't believe it happened. Any future has been taken away, where would we be now?"