Coward who speeds up and crashed his Jaguar into a 13-year-old boy and then fled, leaving him to die, imprisoned for four years

A man who killed a 13-year-old boy in a hit and run was driving at nearly three times the legal speed limit, even though he didn’t even have a license.

Liam Wilson, 21, has been jailed for four years after striking 13-year-old Jack Worwood with his car on Old Lane, Ashton-in-Makerfield, at 4.29pm on July 7.

When Judge Graeme Smith rendered sentencing at Bolton Crown Court, Jack’s parents shook their heads and looked visibly angry, while Wilson’s friends and family cried.

Wilson, of Livingstone Road, Ashton-in-Makerfield, had only purchased the Jaguar X-Type a few days earlier from a local mechanic, who told him to insure it and make sure it had a valid MOT.

Despite having only a provisional license, Wilson decided to take the car out to visit KFC with his 15-year-old brother as it was raining and he didn’t want to walk.

After visiting the fast food restaurant, Wilson sped to 58 mph along the Old Road, which has a 20 mph speed limit, and eventually lost control approaching a hairpin turn.

One witness described the driving as “reckless” and “stupid”. When Wilson tried to correct it, the car veered into the wrong lane before turning sideways and backward, prosecuting attorney Robert Hall told the court.

Jack was walking down Old Road on his way to meet his friends for a football game and was on the phone with his grandmother when the back of Wilson’s car struck him from behind. The impact threw him against a nearby wall, causing “catastrophic” injuries to his head and chest. The vehicle also destroyed some walls before a wall finally stopped it.

According to an investigating officer, it does not appear that Wilson attempted to make an emergency stop at any point, something that could have prevented the accident.

Wilson and his brother abandoned the car and fled. Another driver, Matthew Jones, pursued him on foot. When Wilson fled the scene, he dropped his bank card near the driver’s door.

Bystanders tended to Jack while they waited for emergency services to arrive, but despite being taken to the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, Jack died at 2.52pm the next day.

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When the police initially visited Wilson’s home, they discovered that he had slept outside in a nearby forest to avoid arrest. After tracking down Wilson the next morning, they arrested him after a brief chase on foot. Hall also said Wilson resisted arrest.

According to Hall, only in his third police interview did Wilson admit to being the driver of the car and “showed signs of remorse.”

Wilson pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving on August 7 at Bolton Crown Court.

‘You killed my son and I will never forgive you’

In a statement on the impact of the victim, Jack’s father, Andrew Worwood, said: “He was my amazing, smart and funny boy.

“No parent should have to make the decision to end the life of their 13-year-old son, but you took that decision away from all of us with your selfish actions of getting behind the wheel of a car and driving when you shouldn’t have.” I can never forgive you for this.

“Losing our son feels like we’ve been sentenced to life in prison from which we don’t see a way out. Our lives as a family are over. Our daughter Caitlin hasn’t been home since Jack passed away. Him, so we haven’t just lost Jack, but we’ve lost her too.

“All aspects of family life are empty without him. Whenever I think about the future, I see a great emptiness.

“Jack was exceptional at math and wanted to be an accountant. He would have made it because he was smart enough. He was supposed to be my best man. Now I can’t work as a heavy-duty driver.

“It has affected his friends, his grandparents, his uncle, his cousins ​​and everyone who knew him.

“You killed my son and I will never forgive you. You have your life and my son will never have his.”

Jack’s mother, Catherine Worwood, added: “Jack was a caring, kind and conscientious child, a lovable rogue who had his whole life ahead of him. His innocence is unbearable throughout his history.

“Some people may say he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but he wasn’t. Jack was innocent and had every right to be where he was.

“Liam Wilson was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He broke the law, Jack didn’t. He killed my son and left him for dead. He’s alive to tell the tale, Jack isn’t.

“My whole life was turned upside down in less than 24 hours. I don’t think I will ever recover from this. I will never see him graduate, get married or have children, all the amazing milestones a mother should share with him. Her son.

“No sentence will be enough. No amount of apology will be forgiven. At the end of the day, is my son’s life worth his whole life, a few years in prison?”

‘Only one person had a choice that day and that person was you’

Ronan said that Wilson “is not the most intellectual of individuals”, has learning difficulties and had recently started smoking cannabis before his arrest.

He claimed that Wilson grew up in an “abusive home” and that his mother was addicted to heroin. The defense attorney also said that Wilson and his mother had recently reconciled and that he was caring for her at the time of her arrest.

He died last week while Wilson was in custody and Ronan said the death “has touched him deeply.”

Mr. Ronan added: “Nothing I say is intended to detract from the gravity or seriousness of this tragic event. I am simply making presentations on behalf of Mr. Wilson.

“He is dominated by guilt and remorse.

“He is seeking mental health help that he has not dealt with in the past.”

Sentencing Wilson to four years in prison, Judge Graeme Smith said: “Too often in this court, we see young men who think they have the right and the ability to drive a car without having passed an exam. This is an example. particularly tragic about the consequences of that misleading belief.

“He has had a difficult upbringing, has learning difficulties, committed a number of crimes as a child, but none as serious as this and recently reconciled with his mother and became her caregiver.

“Jack suffered catastrophic injuries. You ran away. You said you did not know that you hit anyone; however, other things you have said are demonstrably false and eyewitness accounts suggest that you did.”

“Only one person had a choice that day and that person was you. For reasons that seem rather trivial, you made the completely selfish decision to drive and drove in an extremely dangerous manner.”

Wilson was also banned from driving for five years and 10 months.