Sala's mum claims he was "betrayed" as she breaks silence on tragic plane crash

The mum of tragic footballer Emiliano Sala has broken her silence for the first time since her son's tragic death in a plane crash three years ago.

The 28-year-old striker and pilot David Ibbotson, 59, died when the small plane they were flying in entered the English Channel in January 2019.

His mum Mercedes Carina Taffarel said that "the plane was not in good condition" and that her son "was betrayed" but that she wants "to believe that justice is going to be done".

She added that she wants "to trust Europe, I want to trust England".

Speaking publicly for the first time since her son's tragic death three years ago she described the moment she found out that her son Emiliano was missing.

She said: "We were in my house and my son Dario gave a terrifying scream.

"That scream still echoes in my ears, I can't get it out, I feel it every moment Dario yells at me 'Mum, Emiliano has disappeared!' Very distressing.

"I did not know what to do, I couldn't believe it, it seemed like a lie to me.

"I refused to believe it."

Speaking about the £15m in transfer money that Cardiff did not pay for the athlete's transfer fee, Mercedes said: "They have to give me everything my son deserved... And that's why I'm also going to fight, because it's what he would have wanted, for me to fight for what belongs to him."

Speaking about Emiliano, she said: "Emi trusted people a lot, he was too good.

"A loving, divine son. The last thing he said to me before he got on the plane was that he was about to board and that he would talk to me when he got to Cardiff.

"No one will return my son to me, but I want those who organised that flight to pay."

Flight operator David Henderson, from East Riding of Yorkshire, was convicted of endangering the safety of the aircraft after a trial at Cardiff Crown Court in October.

He was jailed for 18 months.

An inquest into the death of the Argentine football player is set to begin with a full jury on February 14.