RELATIVES and friends will today privately remember four young men who died a year ago in a tragedy which shocked Newport.

Four families were robbed of men they loved when a car careered off Caerleon Road and plunged into the icy River Usk just before Christmas.

Anthony Hill, 35, Martin Biggs, 34, Matthew Reardon, 23, and Leighton Pring, 22, died as they returned home from a pool match on the evening of December 16.

Matthew's brother Kristian, who was also in the car, managed to escape and swam to the nearby St Julian's pub to raise the alarm but nothing could be done to save the others.

Two children - Anthony's daughter Lauren and Martin's son Callum - were left fatherless by the horrific accident.

Hundreds of grieving relatives and friends packed the churches where their funerals were held and thousands of others mourned such a terrible waste of young lives.

Today there will be no public service for the four men but those who loved them will pay their respects in their own way.

Anthony's widow Anita, of Durham Road, said she was planning to take the day off from her job at Alcatel.

She intended to visit the cemetery and spend the day quietly. Their daughter Lauren is now seven.

After his death Mrs Hill paid tribute to her husband. "I will always remember Ant as being one of the most hard working, kind, considerate and loving people that anyone will ever wish to meet and it was an honour to have spent 15 years of my life with him.

"He left me with his most prized possession that he had in the whole world and that was Lauren."

Anthony's mother Jacqueline, also of Durham Road, began a campaign for crash barriers along that stretch of road and Anita said they still wanted those installed.

Diane Pring, mother of Leighton who was driving that fateful night, was intending to visit the crash site today. It is marked by a memorial stone regularly laid with fresh flowers.

She and other relatives have raised more than £5,000 for various charities including river rescue organisation SARA.

The new landlord of the Carpenter's Arms in Maindee, where the four men were members of the pool team, will be laying a wreath at the scene of last year's tragedy.

John Lane has only been running the Carpenter's Arms in Maindee for two weeks but he said the accident is still fresh in people's minds.

"Even though I didn't know the men or their families, they were a part of this pub and the accident is still remembered.

"A lot of the regulars are leaving flowers as well. People have been talking about it all week, remembering it happened this time last year. It was a terrible tragedy."