Police error sees parents watch over stranger while son was dead

A grieving family spent three weeks keeping vigil at the wrong hospital bed after a police mix-up swapped the identities of two crash victims.

The parents of Joshua Johnson were wrongly told their son had survived a horror car crash near Rotherham and was lying in a coma.

In reality, Joshua had died and the teenager they were sitting beside was Trevor Wynn whose own family had been told he was dead, reports The Telegraph.

The fatal crash happened in the early hours of December 13 on Todwick Road. Police errors meant both families were given the wrong information, turning an already devastating tragedy into a surreal nightmare.

Believing their son was still alive, Joshua’s parents spent hours every day at the hospital, talking to, comforting and watching over a boy they thought was him.

The truth only emerged three weeks later, when Trevor suddenly woke up from his coma, whose family had already planned his funeral.

Summer Louise Scott also died in the crash. She had been driving a silver Toyota Corolla, with Joshua and Trevor as passengers.