Our son was left in the road to die

THE parents of hit-and-run victim Phil Hooper today make a desperate appeal for the driver to come forward. Alan and Jane Hooper have spoken for the first time of the anguish they have faced since Phil, 16, was killed in Fort Road a month ago.

'If the person who hit him had stopped and gone to help, in your heart you could forgive them after a while. But you can't forgive someone who would live with that on their conscience,' said Mr Hooper.

'That's always amazing to think that a person can leave a young lad in the road to die.'

Police investigations are continuing after the 16-year-old Vale Rec Youth One football captain lost his life shortly after being discovered by a passing motorist.

An inquest found that Phil died after being run over. Now, Mr and Mrs Hooper have appealed for the driver of that vehicle to come forward and to help piece together the last minutes of their son's life.

Mr Hooper even planned to place an advert in the Guernsey Press to help find out more.

'Someone, somewhere must know something and perhaps this will jog their memory and show them there are people still suffering from what happened,' he said.

'A person who can do that to a young lad is just without belief. We want to know why, while driving down a straight road; and what happened. There are all these points you want answered.'

The police called at the Hoopers' home at about 2.30am following the incident after finding his address on a pay cheque.

Phil's older brother, 19-year-old Adam, answered the door.

'Jane was awake and came down and the police told her and she came up to tell me. She just said it's the police downstairs and they think Phil has been killed,' said Mr Hooper.

'I had to go up and identify the body.

'When you're going up in the police car, it's like a surreal moment. You want to get there - and you don't.

'If you don't get there, you don't have to face the thought he's dead. I hoped it wasn't him, but it was.'

Mr Hooper said that after returning home, he walked around L'Ancresse Common.

His wife added how hard it was to wait until the morning to phone family members to tell them the terrible news.

'Now we've got over most of the grief, we want to see if the person will come forward and clear their conscience,' said Mr Hooper.

They both fear that they will never know what happened during the final moments of Phil's life. He died between 1am and 2.15am on Sunday 11 July.

On the Friday night before the incident, the family had been at a party at Phil's auntie's house.

During Saturday, he had been at a friend's home.

'He phoned to ask if I could take them to the Fermain Tavern. I dropped them off near Morley Chapel and that was it, the last time I saw him,' said Mrs Hooper.

It was about 8pm.

'It still feels unreal; it just feels like he's on holiday,' said Mrs Hooper.

The couple went to the scene of the accident on the Sunday afternoon, but have only been past once since.

'There were so many flowers and people had put lovely messages. It was nice seeing the flowers but then you spot the blood and that really hurt.'

Phil was a very keen footballer and had represented Vale Rec. at Youth, Railway, Jacksons and Priaulx levels.

'He was really going well at football and was going to start to coach the minis this season,' said Mr Hooper.

'They all thought a lot of him there because he was always making them laugh. He had his bad moments, but mostly he was a happy person.'

Phil's funeral was on Friday 23 July, the same day that he would have turned 17.

Vale Rec. coaches assembled a guard of honour and his friends selected the music, which included House of the Rising Sun.

'The whole day was just grief; you can't realise what's happening. There were over 400 people there; you see them but you don't recognise them. It's afterwards you wish you could speak to them but you're too overcome,' said Mr Hooper.

Phil was an apprentice carpenter with R. G. Phillips and was due to travel to Australia with his friends in November.

Mr Hooper said it was the little things he missed about Phil, such as the way he used to bang down the stairs.

'He was always in the shower. His first words were always hello mum, what's for tea?' said Mrs Hooper.

'I just want to piece together what happened to my son.'

She added that the amount of cards and flowers indicated how much people cared and how supportive everybody had been.

Police have assigned a family liaison officer, which, the couple said, worked well, but they have heard nothing in the last few weeks.

The family is deeply involved with Vale Rec. Younger son David, 13, plays Youth Three and Mrs Hooper runs the canteen.

They are hoping to have a Youth trophy in Phil's honour as well as making a donation towards the new dressing rooms.

'The worst thing is the longer they leave it, the worse it will be. If they'd helped, we'd think more of them,' said Mrs Hooper.

The couple are still trying to find out the passing motorist who stopped to help Phil so he or she can be thanked.