Carmen Greenway pictured taking the selfie with one hand on her bike as she cycled home from dinner - moments before she hit a bumpy patch of road and lost control.
Carmen Greenway pictured taking the selfie with one hand on her bike as she cycled home from dinner - moments before she hit a bumpy patch of road and lost control.
This is the smiling selfie taken by a Kiwi mother-of two just moments before she crashed her bike and was fatally injured just metres from her London home.
New Zealander Carmen Greenway, 41, took this picture of herself and her mother in the background as they rode back from the pub where they had been celebrating a family occasion.
But moments later, just 100 yards from her west London home, Mrs Greenway was flung from the saddle and cracked her skull as her mother, Sherry Bennett, watched on in horror.
Her husband, Rufus Greenway, 47, said his wife regularly rode back from the pub after a few drinks and knew the route well.
He described her as "a very competent cyclist" but believes she was "overconfident" and said she may have had one hand on the handlebar after taking the photo.
Carmen Greenaway was a 'competent cyclist' says her husband Rufus.
He said his wife would "still be alive today" if she had been wearing a helmet and is now calling on the government to make it a legal requirement on Britain's roads. Helmets are not compulsory in the United Kingdom.
Mr Greenway, who owns an audio-visual company with his wife, was in Moscow when the accident happened on August 18 and flew home to be at his wife's bedside.
Paying tribute to his wife of nearly nearly 13 years, he said: "The biggest loss is my children have lost their mother at 41. I've lost the love of my life. No rows, no arguments, I thought I was in it for 60 years."
Carmen Greenway with her husband Rufus and sons Finlay and Rafferty.
Mr Greenway said: "We were just living an adventurous life together and it was getting better every day. The sanctity of life was being in each other's arms.
"It's unfortunately an unfortunate accident. If she was wearing a helmet she would still be alive."
Mrs Greenway grew up in Auckland on the North Shore and moved to the UK about 15 years ago. She met her husband a short time after that.
Mr Greenway said that she regularly rode the same route after a few drinks, and taking a selfie on a bike was nothing unusual as she was so confident in the saddle.
"She had been taking some selfies on the main road, she did that regularly and was media savvy. She was not taking it at the moment of the accident. She was 100m from our house, one hand on the bars, quite relaxed, and probably had had a drink.
Carmen grew up in Auckland on the North Shore and moved to the UK about 15 years ago. Photo / Supplied
"She cycled that way every weekend and perhaps it's familiarity breeding contempt. She was just having a lovely time, happy to be with her mother for her mum's birthday. One second you're happy and then next second it's a trainwreck."
The couple's eldest child Finlay, 13, had been a "rock", Mr Greenway said, while four-year-old Rafferty kept pictures of his mother on the wall in his bedroom.
Mrs Greenway's mother Sherry Bennett, who was riding behind her daughter when she fell, told the NZ Herald in an earlier interview: "I'm struggling, struggling with the sadness and the broken heart.
"It's just unbelievable. I feel like I'm on another planet somewhere. I feel like it's just a bad dream and I just feel like she's going to walk in the door soon."
She said her daughter was a devoted wife and adored her children and husband.
"She was special to me because she was my only daughter. She's just got this special quality about her, she just exudes love and happiness.
"She just had this huge personality that was so infectious. People just wanted to be with her, just gravitated to her. Everyone was her friend."
