A father worried that an accident blocking his street had made his son late home was distraught to discover paramedics desperately trying to save the boy’s life on the side of the road.
Terry White saw flashing blue lights outside his home, so approached police to see if his son, Louis, 14, was trapped on the other side of the emergency cordon.
Instead, he was devastated to see ambulance crews battling to save the teenager, who had been knocked off his mountain bike by a speeding driver.
Terry White (pictured left) was worried that his son Louis (right) was delayed home due to a road accident on his street, but was horrified to see that his son was the subject of the incident as the 14-year-old had been knocked over by a speeding car
The incident took place outside Mr White’s home (pictured) in Rochdale, where the father saw his son being treated by paramedics with serious head injuries after a a high-performance VW Golf GTI driven by Mohammed Hussain, 25, knocked the teenager off his mountain bike
Louis suffered severe head injuries and died in hospital the following day – his 15th birthday.
Yesterday, as Mohammed Hussain, 25, was jailed for four years, Mr White relived the terrible moment in March last year.
He told Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court: ‘Louis said he would be back for 9pm but he had not arrived home.
‘Looking through the front room window, there were blue lights about 100 yards away at the end of the street.
‘I went out to find the road cordoned off while paramedics were working on somebody. I asked a policeman if there was a lad at one of the other cordons trying to get through as he was late home.
‘I got to find out the person on the floor was our son, Louis.’
Mr White said Louis’s organs were donated before he died.
‘We will never get over this but have to live with it,’ he added.
‘Louis had so much to look forward to. Nobody can understand the impact of the loss of a child unless it’s happened to them. We know that now.’
The court heard that Louis, a Year 10 pupil at Kingsway Park High School in Rochdale, who was tipped to do well in his GCSEs, divided his time between the homes of his father and his mother, Julie Ryan, who are separated.
On the night of the accident, Louis had been to see a friend while his father drove his wife, Marieclare, to work.
Louis was on his way home when his bike was clipped from behind by Hussain, who was driving a high-performance VW Golf GTI he had bought from a friend just five days earlier.
The court heard he was travelling at almost double the 30mph speed limit along Milnrow Road, in Newbold, Rochdale, and failed to spot Louis until the last second.
Charlotte Crangle, prosecuting, said: ‘It was too late to take any evasive action.
‘He claimed that the road was not well lit, and that there were shadows from trees which may have affected his view.
‘He agreed that he had not applied his brakes until after the collision.’
The court heard Hussain had a conviction from December 2017 for speeding on a motorway for which he received three points on his driving licence.
Judge John Potter told Hussain, who admitted causing death by dangerous driving, that his actions were ‘senseless and selfish’.
‘You decided to drive a high-performance vehicle at grossly excessive speed, perhaps trying to test the performance of the car which you only had for a short period of time,’ the judge said.
‘Your acts were clearly dangerous and had fatal consequences. This was a senseless loss of a young life.’
Louis (pictured left) passed away in hospital a day after the incident – the same day as his 15th birthday. He was described as a ‘sporty’ ‘polite’ and ‘very caring’ boy
A tearful Miss Ryan told the court that Louis’s four siblings were struggling to come to terms with the loss of their brother, who was described as a ‘sporty, polite and very caring boy’.
‘I thrive off the love of my babies and I cry constantly for the love I now cannot shower Louis with,’ she said.
‘Their world has been taken and a nightmare has taken its place where nothing is the same any more.’
Gordon Hennell, defending, said Hussain admitted he was ‘driving far too fast’ and wished to express his ‘deepest sorrow and regret and remorse’ to Louis’s family.
‘He recognises he has done them a terrible wrong and accepts full responsibility for what he did,’ Mr Hennell said.
Hussain, of Rochdale, was also banned from driving for five years.