The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Mother begs son to return after hit and run tragedy
Girl, four, dies in hospital
The mother of a man believed to have fled the country after a hit-and-run crash which killed a fouryear-old girl has made an emotional plea for him to come home.
Violet-GraceYouens died in hospital in her mother’s arms on Saturday after she wasstruck by a stolen black Ford Fiesta while walking through StHelens, Merseyside, on Friday.
Her grandmother, Angela French, 55, was also injured in the crash and is in a serious but stable condition in hospital.
Merseyside Police are searching for 23-year-old Aidan McAteer, who is believed to have left the country within hours of the crash.
Yesterday his mother, Alicia McAteer, 41, called for him to come home. She said: “I need him to come home.”
She added: scared.
“I know what he’s done to this family is horrific and what the y ’ r e going through, but he is my son and as a mum myself I’m worried about where he is and what his state of mind is.”
MrsMcAteer said she felt “numb” after seeing a CCTV image released by “He’s running police after the crash of her son.
She said she contacted police after seeing the photo.
She said: “I was just thinking of that poor woman and little girl.”
She added: “I don’t condone this and if I could go back in time I would.”
The mother of four, who has another son, 18, and two daughters aged 11 and 20, said she would usually hear from Mr AcAteer every day.
“What I’m feeling is probably a fraction of what she is.”
Dean Brennan, 27, appeared at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court yesterday charged with assisting an offender, theft of a motor vehicle and the aggravating offence of allowing oneself tobecarried withinastolen vehicle.