Car stolen from Wigan before hit-and-run left schoolboy with 'catastrophic' injuries

At around 6.25pm on December 22 last year, emergency services were called to Bracknell Avenue, near to Kirkby High School, to reports of a head-on collision involving a dark silver Honda Civic and then 15-year-old Zach Michaels.

Zach had been riding a push bike home from his gran’s house, in a residential area with a 20mph speed limit. Merseyside Police said the car was travelling in excess of 70mph.

The car, which displayed a stolen 70 plate with the registration OV70 OWG, failed to stop following the collision and made off in the general direction of Bewley Drive and then towards Valley Road.

Zach’s numerous injuries included a fractured spine and an above-the-knee amputation on his leg.

Police enquiries established the car had been stolen during a burglary at a car dealership in Wigan on December 8, 2024. On December 18, the car was spotted by police in Greater Manchester but disappeared after they gave chase in Wigan.

There were no other sightings until December 28, when the vehicle was seen again in Greater Manchester with damage to the windscreen and bonnet. The vehicle evaded officers and a short time later was found burnt out in Billinge.

Merseyside Police said a number of lines of enquiry have been carried out to trace the driver and officers are continuing to appeal for anyone with information to come forward.

Leaflet drops and house-to-house enquiries were carried out in the area of Bracknell Avenue and Kirkby town centre yesterday (December 22), and a digital van and digital screens across the city are also featuring the appeal.

Detective Sergeant Simon Duffy from the force’s Matrix Serious Collision Investigation Unit said: “This was a shocking incident which has left a teenage boy with life-changing injuries which continue to impact him to this day.

"This was a residential area with a 20mph speed limit but our forensic investigators have established the car was travelling in excess of 70 miles per hour. "The car was a 2018 dark silver Honda Civic with very distinctive lighting to the front and rear. It had a false plate with the registration OV70 OWG.

“It is incomprehensible to think that anyone could even consider driving away and leaving the boy with such catastrophic injuries. We remain committed to tracking that person down and anyone who may have assisted following the collision.

“Our enquiries remain ongoing, and I would make an appeal directly to the driver of the car to consider the feelings of the boy and his family and come forward.

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“We believe the vehicle was in the Sefton and Kirkby areas for at least one week prior to the collision so we would again appeal for anyone who has seen a vehicle like that in the image, to contact us as a matter of urgency.

"I would also ask the local community to consider the victim, his family and the risk posed by such a dangerous driver, and if you have any information at all regarding this incident, then please work with us to help identify those responsible for this crime. ”

If you have any information that can help, contact the Serious Collision Investigation Unit on (0151) 777 5747, or by email [email protected] quoting reference 24001073245.

Crimestoppers is also supporting the investigation by offering a £7,500 reward for information the charity exclusively receives - via its website Crimestoppers-uk.org or by calling 0800 555 111 – that leads to the conviction of anyone involved in the collision.