Comedian Gareth Richards has died aged just 41 after a horror car crash. Gareth's heartbroken wife Laura shared the tragic news that her husband passed away yesterday evening.
The comic had been fighting for his life in hospital after he was in a "terrible" car crash on Monday, March 27. Gareth had suffered serious brain injuries in the smash, which happened at 11.30pm, and Laura said it was a "miracle" that he arrived at the hospital alive.
But despite the "incredible" work of doctors and nurses, Gareth was not able to recover. The comedian starred alongside Frank Skinner on his Absolute Radio show for two years, the Mirror reports.
In a statement on Facebook, Laura Richards said: "It is with great sadness that I have to share that Gareth Richards passed away on Friday 7th April (Good Friday) at 6:30pm. He was in a terrible car accident on Monday 27th March at 11:30pm and sustained serious brain injuries.
"It was a miracle that he arrived at the hospital alive. Since then, the doctors and nurses have been incredible and have kept him in a stable and sedated condition.
"However, the latest scan revealed that the extent of the damage was so severe that they would have to remove all of the supportive medications and allow him to be at peace. The boys are bearing up well.
"There will be details of the funeral and other ways to remember Gareth to follow, as I know that he was well loved. At the moment the grief is a lot to cope with. Thank you all for your support and kindness."
The comedy world has been paying tribute to the late star. Comedian Rhys James tweeted: "I was a fan of Gareth Richards before I met him and was so thrilled by how lovely and hilarious he was offstage as well as on.
"A giant of joke writing. A pleasure to know and an honour to die on my arse alongside at some real stinker network gigs back in the day. RIP."
Ted Lasso star Lloyd Griffith added: "This is heartbreaking. Gareth, you were the kindest man ever, and so so funny. I used to watch this over and over again when I first got into comedy. Rest in peace pal xx."
Comic Josh Pugh wrote: "Thoughts with @garethrichards family and friends such a kind and funny man."
His tragic death comes after a tearful Frank Skinner, 66, struggled for words on last week's Saturday show as he mentioned what had happened to his friend and former co-star. He said at the time: "Gareth was in a very big road accident this week and it’s not looking great for Gareth, he is in hospital and he’s fighting but it’s not looking great.
“I didn’t want to do this show, we didn’t want to do this show, without mentioning him. Many of you would have seen him live, some of you will remember on the show, if you’ve been with us that long. He is a fantastic bloke.”
Skinner recalled how Richards had co-hosted with him and Emily Dean when The Frank Skinner Show first went on air. He said: “We’ve been doing this show for 14 years and when we first did the pilot for it, me and Emily, it was rubbish, just the two of us.
“We couldn’t do it, and we got a guest on the next one, who was Gareth Richards who was brilliant on here and we asked him to do the show, so for the first few years it was me, Em and Gareth. It was great, exciting times, we won an award and he in fact became a very close friend and he supported me on tour a couple of times.”
