Islington Tribune - by PETER GRUNER Published: 1 June 2007
Emmay Bailey
Theatre star’s tragic death
ONE of Islington’s theatrical stars Canadian born Emma Bailey has died tragically in an car accident on the M4 near Chippenham. Emma who was just nine days away from her 24th birthday was due next week to perform at the Pleasance Theatre in Holloway in a play she had written.
The play Bandwagon by her company C54 which who would have also starred Richard Jackson and Natasha James has been cancelled.
Emma who graduated with a Masters Degree from the Central School for Speech and Drama in London last year was driving in a Nissan Micra eastbound along the motorway between Chippenham and Swindon when it was hit by a Mercedes Sprinter van that had crashed through the central reservation.
The van had been travelling westbound just after 3pm when it collided with a Ford Focus travelling in the same direction.
The driver of the Sprinter van lost control and it mounted the central reservation, spinning several times before hitting the Nissan Micra.
The van finally came to rest in the eastbound hard shoulder while the Nissan Micra left the road and veered down a bank.
A female passenger in the Micra was taken to the Great Western Hospital suffering from serious head injuries.
A spokeswoman for the Bailey family in Alberta described Emma as “precious and beautiful, an extremely talented actress, and a wonderful and generous person. She had a wild enthusiasm for life.”
She was buried in the local St. Albert Catholic Church last week close to her family home.