Tragic Midlands father killed by twist of fate in Germanwings crash

The father-of-two, a former Scout leader, was described as a 'lovely family man'.

Mr Matthews, from Bushbury in Wolverhampton and a worker at Huf in Tipton, was a Wolves season ticket holder.

Colleagues at Huf, which makes car components, said the 50-year-old was a 'really nice man', as the firm prepared to hold a minute's silence in his memory. Mr Matthews was married to Sharon, 48, and had two children, Jade 20 and Nathan, 23. It is thought he had lived in the area for around 25 years.

Mr Matthews was only on the Airbus 320 after failing to find a direct route back the Midlands.

He instead boarded the fateful flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf, which crashed in the Alps on Tuesday morning, killing all 150 people on board.

Mr Matthews was going to fly from Germany to Birmingham and should have been with his family on Tuesday night. He had been in Barcelona for a business meeting.

There were tears at his workplace yesterday, as there were at his family home where wife Sharon was too upset to speak.

Police were at their Abbeyfield Road home comforting the family. The Foreign Office confirmed Mr Matthews was one of at least three British victims. In a statement his family said: "We are devastated at the news of this tragic incident and request that we are allowed to deal with this terrible news without intrusion at this difficult time."

Mr Matthews' mother Iris, 82 and from Wednesfield, said: "This has been a terrible shock. I am numb. Martyn was a lovely family man.

"He loved his work and travelled extensively for them (Huf). I don't want to say any more. It's too hard."

Wolves last night lowered the flags outside Molineux to half mast and sent sincere condolences to the family of Martin, who had a season ticket in the Steve Bull Stand.

The cause of the crash is still being investigated. Experts were today sifting through the rubble and examining a black box cockpit voice recorder for vital clues. It is believed two minutes of radio silence hold the key. Evidence has emerged that the unexplained, gradual dive to destruction of the Germanwings flight took at least 18 minutes, not eight.

In that time, it gradually shed height from 28,000 feet to less than 2,000 feet without transmitting any form of distress signal.

A neighbour and former colleague of Mr Matthews said that he was 'a lovely man'.

Margaret Goodyear worked with him at Huf UK in Wolverhampton.

She said: "He was totally family-orientated and at the company he worked for, he will be very sorely missed.

"His family was his world. They will be completely devastated."

Scout leader and parish councillor Bob Denson knew Mr Matthews for most of his life.

He said: "I knew him as a lovely family man, a really nice lad who was very friendly. It's an absolute tragedy."