Wife pays tribute to husband killed in crash days after wedding
The wife of an engineer, who died after being hit by a car days after their wedding, has paid tribute to him.
Matthew Harding, 27, from Oldbury in Wolverhampton, was struck by a Citroen Picasso while he worked on a communication box in July last year.
At Wolverhampton Crown Court the underage driver, now 17, was jailed for four-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to causing death by dangerous driving last month.
He cannot be named for legal reasons.
Danielle Harding said Matthew was "one in a million" and "the most loveable person you could ever come across".
She said: "He would bend over backwards to help anyone out because he had a heart of gold. I lost a piece of myself I won't ever get back."
Matthew's mother Beryl said her family's life had been "broken" by the crash, which also seriously injured a colleague he was working with.
"He is the missing piece of our jigsaw that will never be found and there is a massive hole in our family that can never be repaired," she said.
"It is so difficult to accept the fact Matthew didn't leave on his terms, he was cruelly taken from us by an act that not could have, but should have, been avoided."
The driver, who was found by police after he fled the scene, also pleaded guilty to causing injury by dangerous driving, and has been banned from the roads for seven years and two months.
PC Chris Ridge, from West Midlands Police, said: "He was just 16, too young to drive, and his reckless actions have resulted in tragic consequences."