THE grieving father of a schoolboy who was killed in a hit and run incident has renewed his appeal for the driver to give himself up as his son s birthday approaches. Richie McDonagh, of Linton Close, Neasden, died after he was hit by two cars while cr

THE grieving father of a schoolboy who was killed in a hit and run incident has renewed his appeal for the driver to give himself up as his son's birthday approaches.

Richie McDonagh, of Linton Close, Neasden, died after he was hit by two cars while crossing the North Circular Road at the junction of Brentfield Road in Neasden, on December 29.

The 11-year-old was hit by a first car, which failed to stop at the scene, before being thrown into the pathway of a second car of which the driver did stop.

Tomorrow (October 3), would have been Richie's 12th birthday and his father Martin has made an emotional appeal directly to the driver.

He said: "It's now 10 months since we lost our little boy and we will never get over his death.

"Our family have been ripped apart by this and this Saturday will be a very very sad day for us.

"We should be watching Richie blow the candles out on his cake but instead we will be laying flowers on his grave.

"If you are a father please look at your child and imagine this has happened to you. How would you feel?

"Even if you don't have children, you must feel some guilt about what has happened.

"Now is the time for you to do the right thing and give yourself up."

In a tragic twist, Richie's maternal grandmother had passed away hours before he died, and the family had been at her wake when he was killed.

Mr McDonagh said: "We lost two members of our family in a few hours and it has destroyed us.

"There must be someone out there who knows the driver. Someone is shielding him and if he can't give himself up then they must do the right thing.

"I would never want anyone to go through what we're going through. We will never ever get over it."

Since Richie's death, a report of figures from the London Assembly Lib Dems claimed that the crossing which he was using is one of the 427 across the city which do not give pedestrians enough time to cross the road safely.

More than 600 people have signed a petition organised by the ward councillors Stonebridge councillors Ann John, Colum Moloney and Zaffar Van Kalwala, calling for the installation of a pedestrian bridge.

Sergeant Chris Osbourne from Alperton Collusion unit told the Times they were still appealing for witnesses.

He said: "The investigation is still ongoing.

"We do have some leads however we are still appealing for anyone who saw the collision to contact us because they may unknowingly have crucial information for us."

Anyone with information can call Sgt Osbourne on 020 8998 5319.