Germanwings plane crash" 'I don't blame co-pilot' says victim's girlfriend
The girlfriend of a Briton who died in the Germanwings French Alps air disaster has told how he switched flights "at the last moment" and said she did not blame the co-pilot who crashed the jet.
Paul Bramley, 28, died when Andreas Lubitz (pictured) locked the Germanwings flight's captain out of the cockpit before flying the plane into a mountainside, killing all 150 people on board. Words: PA.
But girlfriend Anneli Tiirik said she did not blame Lubitz, 27, who had hidden a sick note on the day of the crash and was found to have researched suicide methods in the days leading up to it.
The 23 year old told the Sunday People: "I cannot hate or blame someone for being sick.
"Instead of blaming sick people and trying to understand their motives from the perspective of a health mind, we should concentrate on changing the system that enables such people to be in positions of power."
The music student, who began dating Mr Bramley in 2011, said she hoped airlines would bring in greater checks, such as brain scans, to prevent similar disasters in future.
She said she had waited for Mr Bramley at Manchester airport, having flown in herself from Estonia, before later learning of the crash.
"He was originally meant to land in Manchester on the Monday night, but he changed his flight at the last moment for Tuesday. That was all the information his mum and I had, because he had switched off his mobile phone.
"I had a bad feeling because he would never have left me alone waiting like that. I had been there for a couple of hours when one of his relatives came to pick me up. She stepped out of the car with tissues in her hand. My heart sank and I knew the worst had happened."
Originally from Hull, Mr Bramley was studying hospitality and hotel management at Ceasar Ritz College in Lucerne and had been set to start an internship on April 1. He had just finished his first year at the college and was flying home from a few days holiday with friends in Barcelona when he was killed.
The other Britons killed were Martyn Matthews, 50, from Wolverhampton, and seven-month-old Julian Pracz-Bandres, from Manchester, who died alongside his mother, Marina Bandres Lopez Belio, 37, originally from Spain.
Many UK airlines have changed their rules in the wake of the crash to ensure two people were in the cockpit at all times.
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