'Boeing played Russian roulette with people’s lives'

It was still dark when the plane came in to land. Mark and Debbie Pegram, and their younger son Tom, looked out towards the runway from the deserted terminal building.

When they saw the tell-tale red writing down the side of the aircraft, and the elongated green, yellow and red triangles on its tail, they were overcome with emotion.

It was the only Ethiopian Airlines plane arriving into Manchester that October morning, and on board was the coffin of 25-year-old Sam Pegram.

The family knew this was going to be a painful moment. However, it had been seven months since Sam had died. So, amid the intense loss and heartbreak, they also felt relief that it had finally arrived.

The humanitarian worker from Penwortham in Lancashire boarded an Ethiopian Airlines plane in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, on 10 March 2019. Six minutes after take-off, the Boeing 737 Max aircraft crashed. No-one survived.

It took investigators six months to match DNA samples taken from the family and Sam’s belongings, to remains recovered from the crash site.