Alton Towers crash amputee Leah Washington ties the knot with fiance Joe Pugh in a dazzling ceremony

Alton Towers amputee Leah Washington has tied the knot with her partner Joe Pugh in a dazzling ceremony, nine years after the pair were involved in a horror hit on the theme park’s The Smiler rollercoaster.

The couple got engaged during a romantic getaway to Italy in 2022, before Leah, 26, enjoyed a bachelorette party with a dozen close friends and family in the Algarve, Portugal, last year.

But the couple’s wedding was not always on the agenda: in the aftermath of the Alton Towers crash, in which Leah lost a leg and Joe broke both kneecaps and lost the ability to move one of his fingers, it floated couple apart.

When they were just 17 and 18 years old, the life-changing injuries they suffered on their first real date occurred when the carriage they were in crashed into a second stationary car at around 50mph.

But despite the horrific extent of the couple’s injuries, they overcame their struggles and are now married in a beautiful ceremony surrounded by friends and family.

Leah, 26, from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, lost a leg in the crash on The Smiler ride at Alton Towers

Leah stunned in a dazzling white dress adorned with jewels and carried a voluminous bouquet of white roses.

Her now husband Joe opted for a simple black tuxedo, with a single matching white flower adorning his buttonhole.

Images from the intimate ceremony showed the couple celebrating with family friends as they shared a kiss outside the wedding venue.

Leah, from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, previously told how she and her friends became caught up in air traffic control chaos as she returned from her hen party last summer.

She had shared several clips from her bachelorette party in August with singing, dancing and recording at a beach club in the Algarve.

Her fiancé Joe even ordered 15 pink shots for the group at the club, later joking that he was setting expectations for his bachelor party, which was still to come.

The couple got engaged during a romantic vacation to Italy in 2022.

Footage from the intimate ceremony showed the couple celebrating with family friends as they shared a kiss outside the wedding venue

Leah Washington and Joe Pugh shared news of their engagement on Instagram while abroad in 2022

Leah took to Instagram to share adorable photos of the couple during the trip, as well as the substantial diamond stone that was on her finger.

Leah previously opened up about how their relationship suffered in the aftermath of the tragic incident, telling Ok!: ‘If you had told any of us in the weeks after our horrific accident in Alton Towers that we would be planning our wedding now, I don’t think that we would have believed it.”

Leah has opened up about her recovery since the crash on social media, sharing clips of her participation in various sports, parties and even modelling.

Last year she wrote in a post: ‘8 years since my life turned around, how time has flown!

‘A short journey from then to now, a 17-year-old girl thinking about what will happen next, confident after the operation and struggling to think positively…

‘Fast forward 8 years and I feel the best I have in a long time, planning my dream wedding, feeling continued improvements in my fitness and getting rid of my prosthesis, in addition to the support of my friends, family and followers.’

A 2015 investigation into the accident concluded that the crash was due to human error; a driver had mistakenly restarted the ride while there was a stationary carriage on the track in front of him.

The couple beamed as Leah shared their exciting news with her 25,000 followers on Instagram

Leah shared a photo of her sparkling diamond ring alongside perfectly manicured nails during the couple’s trip to Venice

Alton Towers amputee Leah Washington crashed into the hospital shortly after the incident

Alton Towers owner Merlin Attractions was fined £5 million for health and safety breaches, which were branded a ‘catastrophic failure’ by Judge Michael Chambers QC.

At least 16 were injured and five people were seriously injured.

They were fined an initial £5 million, and interim payments have so far covered Leah and Joe’s medical and physio bills, but the pair have also made a ‘substantial’ compensation claim.

Leah’s £60,000 prosthetic leg – which includes a microprocessor knee – will need to be replaced every few years, amounting to hundreds of thousands of pounds over her lifetime.

She still suffers from crippling pain and fatigue after standing for long periods of time.

A second woman, Vicky Balch, from Lancashire, also had to have a leg amputation after the crash.

What happened during the Alton Towers Smiler crash?

On June 2, 2015, visitors were removed from the Alton Towers Smiler ride after a warning light indicated a fault.

The staff sent a test train around the track, but it didn’t make it. Due to a communication failure, the staff did not notice that this carriage was still on the track.

Passengers were allowed to board again, but as the first carriage rolled around, the computer system stopped it because it indicated something was blocking the track.

The engineers were still unaware that there was a fifth carriage on the track and ignored an error detected by the computer system, causing the ride to crash into an empty carriage with the force of a ‘150 km car crash /o’clock’.

At least 16 were injured and five people were seriously injured.

Leah Washington, from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, and Vicky Balch, from Leyland, Lancashire, were both forced to undergo leg amputations as a result of the horror crash.

The Smiler in Alton Park, where 16 people were injured in a 2015 collision (file photo). Investigation revealed that a computer block that stopped the ride due to a stationary car on the track was run over by the staff, causing the crash

Joe Pugh, also from Barnsley, and Daniel Thorpe, 28, from Buxton, Derbyshire, also suffered serious leg injuries, along with 49-year-old Chandaben Chauhan.

The trapped passengers had to wait more than four hours before being freed from the crumpled carriage as rescuers struggled to reach them. They were 25 feet in the air at an angle of about 45 degrees, pinned down by the mangled metal.