In May 2018 twin sisters Sabina and Ursula Eriksson arrived in Liverpool on the ferry.
The sisters are thought to have visited St Anne Street police station, where Sabina asked officers to look into a domestic matter in Ireland. Officers at the station said they would liaise with colleagues in Dublin and the women left the station reassured.
Sabina and Ursula are then thought to have boarded a National Express coach bound for London on May 17. However the sisters left the coach at Keele Services after the driver reportedly became concerned by their behaviour.
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Police were then called out to the Keele area after two women were seen walking down the central reservation near J15 of the busy M6. Sabina was wearing a yellow visor with the logo "Time to Believe".
Traffic officers attended and found both sisters safe and well on the hard shoulder. While officers discussed the matter with colleagues, the two women suddenly launched themselves into the path of oncoming traffic.
The drama was recorded by a BBC film crew who were shadowing the officers for television programme Traffic Cops.
Ursula, a Swedish national of County Cork Ireland, suffered appalling leg injuries after being run over by a HGV and Sabina was knocked unconscious by a car.
Police, clearly distressed, provided first aid assistance to the women after traffic stopped. But then both women became inexplicably aggressive.
Sabina then somehow managed to stagger to her feet before felling a policewoman with a roundhouse style punch.
She then hopped over the central reservation and again took off into the path of oncoming traffic as police chased after her. Fortunately drivers managed to slow down and avoid another horrible collision.
Police , paramedics and members of the public then fought to contain Sabina who again became highly aggressive. Paramedics were forced to sedate her on the hard shoulder before both women were flown to hospital via air ambulance.
Police who had attended the scene were left visibly shocked by events.
Speaking at the time Chief Supt Int Kevin O’Leary of Central Motorway Police Group, said: “It was a horrendous accident and it’s a miracle that one, let alone both survived.
“Accidents like that and at that speed can often lead to fatalities. I have seen similar incidents where people have died.
“It was an unpleasant incident and involved a lot of trauma for those involved, not just for motorists, but for police and the highways agency staff also.
“We usually turn up after these sort of incidents so we’re not used to seeing this things actually happen.
"To be there and to catch it on film too was very rare indeed.
“It really was extraordinary that both of them survived – I haven’t seen anything like it before.
“We don’t know why they were doing this but one officer said she thought they might be under the influence of drugs.”
PC Tracey Cope, who attended the scene, said: “As she ran out he tried to grab her instinctively, luckily for him her jacket came off so he could have been in the carriageway as well when she was obviously struck by the HGV. Once the first girl ran out the second one for some reason decided she was going to run out into the traffic as well.”
Sabina, 41, was then charged with assaulting a police officer and trespassing on a motorway. She appeared before Fenton Magistrates Court where she was jailed for one day. She had already spent a day in police custody so walked free from court.
However the bizarre sequence of events was about to take a more sinister development, after Sabina was approached by a local man Glen Hollinshead , 54, who kindly offered her a room for the night. Sabina had been wandering around the area looking for accommodation when Mr Hollinshead offered to help.
On May 20 2008 Sabina stabbed Mr Hollinshead to death before running off down the street with a large hammer.
When a passing driver tried to take the hammer off her she produced a roof tile from her pocket and hit him over the head with hit.
Sabina then ran onto a nearby footbridge and launched herself off it into the path of oncoming traffic below. She fell nearly 50 feet and fractured both legs and her skull. Somehow she managed another full recovery.
In November 2009 Sabina was jailed for five years after she admitted the manslaughter of Mr Hollinshead.
Judge Mr Justice Saunders said Eriksson's culpability for her actions was "low" on the basis of the medical evidence.
He said: "I understand that this sentence will seem entirely inadequate to the relatives of the deceased.
"However, I have sentenced on the basis that the reason for the killing was the mental illness and therefore the culpability of the defendant is low and therefore the sentence I have passed is designed to protect the public.
"It is not designed to reflect the grief the relatives have suffered or to measure the value of Mr Hollinshead's life.
"No sentence that I could pass could do that. It is a sentence which I hope fairly measures a truly tragic event."
The court heard that Eriksson had a rare psychiatric disorder which made her hear voices, but she could not interpret what they said.
Sabina Eriksson's current whereabouts are unknown. Her sister later recovered from her injuries and is now thought to be living in the USA.
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