Couple caused death of young woman during car chase

Mum tells how a couple who ran her daughter off the road had preyed on her tragic youngster “like vultures” in the weeks before she died.

Sophie Taylor, 22, died after falling under the influence of manipulating Michael Wheeler, 23.

He dated her, got her to buy him a £5,800 motorbike then dumped her and returned to lover Melissa Pesticcio, 24.

When Sophie asked for her money back Wheeler and Pesticcio turned on her. They used their cars in the ­ultimate act of intimidation, chasing her for three miles before Wheeler rammed her BMW and caused her to crash .

Speaking to the Sunday Mirror, Sophie’s mum Jackie broke down in tears as she recalled watching doctors turn off the life support machine on her “beautiful baby girl” last summer.

It was just a month after a blissful family holiday in Florida when Disney-obsessed Sophie was pictured beaming happily and wearing Mickey Mouse ears.

Jackie, 52, insists Wheeler and Pesticcio hounded her “princess” to her death. She said: “I think Wheeler and Pesticcio targeted my daughter. “It was a set-up from the start. They are vile human beings. “She had been in a really happy, long-term relationship which ended at the beginning of last year. "She was heartbroken and bought a new car – a black BMW – to try to get over that heartache.  “She put her pictures on Snapchat and they saw she had money and I’m certain they plotted to exploit her.

“That’s when Wheeler contacted her and started pestering her to go out with him. Sophie had no idea it would all go so wrong.

"I believe Pesticcio was in on it from the start. These two saw Sophie as naive and gullible, which she probably was.

“They come from a different, much more sinister and murky world to my Sophie’s.”

 

Soon after getting his hooks into Sophie, Wheeler persuaded her to borrow £5,800 to buy him an off-road KTM motorbike.

But the day after getting the bike he dumped her and returned to Pesticcio. He crashed the machine then sold it for cash and bought a Vauxhall Corsa instead.

Weeks later, jobless Wheeler and Pesticcio – in separate cars – chased innocent Sophie through Cardiff. The pursuit, caught on CCTV , ended with her smashing into a block of flats after Wheeler rammed her car.

 

The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating the 24-minute 999 call made by Sophie’s passenger Josh.

CCTV shows the three cars – Sophie’s black BMW, Pesticcio’s white BMW and Wheeler’s black Corsa – in a line at the height of the chase.

Jackie claimed: “It’s astounding the police didn’t send a patrol car out. My daughter would still be alive if they had. Hearing the crash captured on the second call will haunt me forever.”