THE parents of a man who was killed in the Shoreham airshow disaster came home from visiting his grave to discover their daughter dead.
Caroline, 64, and Bob Schilt, 70, were devastated after learning that their son Jacob Schilt, 23, was killed while on his way to play football for Worthing United.
Ex-BA pilot Andrew Hill was performing a stunt when his vintage plane crashed on a dual carriageway in West Sussex on August 22, 2015, killing 11 people.
Eight years on, Caroline and Bob left their other daughter Louise, 34, at home watching television as they went to visit Jacob’s grave in Clayton.
But when they returned after an hour they found her lifeless body, with Bob desperately performing CPR on his daughter to try and save her life.
They dialled 999 with paramedics arriving in rapid time but heartbroken Caroline said: “She was gone.”
The grieving parents, from Brighton, revealed the double tragedy ahead of an inquest today into Louise’s death in 2023.
Caroline posted a picture on X a day after Louise’s death in April showing her beloved daughter smiling as she wore a blue hoodie as she stood next a horse.
The mother wrote at the time that they had been “robbed of our other child”.
She said: “Our lovely daughter Louise has died suddenly at home yesterday, cruel enough to lose Jacob in the Shoreham air crash but now to be robbed of our our other child seems cruel beyond – the sweetest kindest girl we will always love you.”
Keen horse rider Louise was fit and active until being struck down by a mysterious illness in December 2021, reports The Mirror.
Doctors had told her she might have cancer but she was later diagnosed with an enlarged heart.
The day she died, more than a year later in April 2023, Louise had been discharged from hospital after having fluid drained from her chest for a third time.
Her parents say she was sent home 30 minutes after the procedure.
Caroline told the Mirror: “She was sending messages from the hospital saying how difficult the chest drain was being. She plainly wasn’t all right as she died about two hours later, when I brought her home she couldn’t even get out of the car.”
The retired teachers claim Louise’s health got worse after having her second Covid booster jab.
But Bob said doctors “never found out what the virus was” that she contracted as he added: “They never did the investigation to find out.”
To add to the Schilts’ anguish the hospital continued to send them letters in Louise’s name, even when the coroner’s office told them she was dead.
An inquest beginning today will analyse whether the care Louise received played any part in her death.
Jacob was just 23 when he became one of 11 men who died in the airshow inferno.
The University of Portsmouth graduate had been on the way to play an away football match with his Worthing United FC when the aircraft smashed into vehicles on the A27.
Pilot Hill attempted a loop manoeuvre 200ft above the Shoreham air show.
Experts said he should have been flying at 500ft or above.
His vintage jet broke into four parts as it crashed on the A27 destroying eight vehicles on the dual carriageway.
Wedding chauffeur Maurice Abrahams, 76, was driving a Daimler while en route to collect a bride in Worthing.
Tony Brightwell, 53, who had travelled by bike to watch the air show.
Matthew Grimstone and Jacob Schilt, both 23, died in a Vauxhall while they were on their way to play football in Worthing.
Matt Jones, 24, was giving Daniele Polito, 23, a lift in a BMW. The colleagues had been on a construction job in Shoreham.
Graham Mallinson, 72, had driven to the air show and was standing beside the A27 because he wanted to photograph one of the last flights of the Vulcan bomber.
Mark Reeves, 53, was on a Honda Hornet motorbike and had been standing at the side of the road to watch the show.
Keen cyclists Dylan Archer, 42, and Richard Smith, 26, were on their way to meet friends on the South Downs.
Mark Trussler, 54, had gone to watch the air show on a Suzuki motorbike and had been standing next to the road.
A wedding limo driver was among those to die while 16 people were injured.
Hill, a former RAF instructor, was badly hurt as he was thrown clear but was cleared of manslaughter after a trial in 2019.
An inquest determined the victims had been unlawfully killed.
A Civil Aviation Authority panel this month heard Hill was “grossly incompetent and negligent” and had shown no remorse over the tragedy.
The CAA’s David McCorquodale, who made the decision, told the hearing: “(His flying) was so appallingly bad, it was incompetence, ignorance.
“I was no longer satisfied he was a fit and proper person to hold those licences.”
