Mum of hit and run suspect pleads for him to come home

Violet-Grace Youens died in hospital in her mother’s arms on Saturday after she was struck by a stolen black Ford Fiesta while walking through St Helens, on Friday.

Her grandmother, Angela French, 55, originally from Golborne, was also injured in the crash and is in a serious but stable condition in hospital.

Police are searching for 23-year-old Aidan McAteer, who is believed to have left the country within hours of the crash.

On Wednesday his mother, Alicia McAteer, 41, called for him to come home.

She said: “I need him to come home.”

She added: “He’s running scared.

“I know what he’s done to this family is horrific and what they’re 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.”

Mrs McAteer said she felt “numb” after seeing a CCTV image released by 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, but had not heard from him since before the crash.

She said: “I’m a mum to children and I don’t know how I would feel if this happened to them.

“What I’m feeling is probably a fraction of what she is.”

She added: “This is a nightmare but my nightmare is not half as bad as it is for that family.”

Dean Brennan, 27, appeared at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday charged with assisting an offender, theft of a motor vehicle and the aggravating offence of allowing oneself to be carried within a stolen vehicle.

A third man, aged 23 and from Prescot, was arrested on suspicion of being carried in a stolen vehicle but later released pending further inquiries.