TRIBUTES have been paid to a 20-year-old assistant chef who has died from injuries sustained in a road traffic collision near Llanarth last month.

Natalie June Jean Elizabeth Smith had finished her shift at the Penrhiwgaled Arms at Cross Inn just minutes before her vehicle was involved in a serious two-car accident just north of Llanarth on the A487 on 24 July, which led to the road being blocked for several hours.

Ms Smith, known to her friends as Bella, was airlifted from the scene to Bronglais Hospital and was then transferred to the University of Wales Hospital, Cardiff, where she died on 29 July.

Originally from Nottingham, Ms Smith lived in Llanrhystud and had recently completed a course in mechanics at Coleg Ceredigion in Cardigan before taking up a part-time job at the Penrhiwgaled Arms.

“She’d been on a split shift on the day of the accident and had only finished here 15 minutes earlier,” landlady Jill Chisholm told the Cambrian News.

“It was obviously really shocking when police contacted us to tell us what had happened. We just could not believe it.

“It’s really sad because next Friday would have been Nat’s birthday.

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