Hundreds of Huddersfield people have backed a mum’s campaign for justice for her teenage son.
Daniel Atkinson, 17, was killed with his friend Jade Rice, also 17, when the car they were in hit a lamppost in Bradley Road, Huddersfield, in 2006.
No one has been prosecuted over the deaths and now Daniel’s mum Linda Hawker is to launch a last-ditch plea to Prime Minister David Cameron.
Linda was in Huddersfield town centre on Saturday and collected 350 signatures on a petition she plans to take to 10 Downing Street later this month.
The petition has been signed by 1,600 people so far and Linda and her supporters will be in Halifax on Saturday to add more signatures.
In 2008 an inquest heard that the car was travelling at 80mph in a 40mph zone when driver Mohammed Tanwir lost control.
Tanwir, a live-in carer at a home where Daniel and Jade lived at the time, was cleared of failing to stop but the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided there was insufficient evidence to charge him with causing death by dangerous driving.
Appeals to the Attorney General Dominic Grieve and the High Court also failed leaving Linda and Jade’s mum Elaine Noble still seeking justice.
Linda, of Wakefield, hopes to take her petition to Downing Street later this month and is waiting for confirmation from her MP, Mary Creagh.
“We have asked for the police files and the re-opening of the case and it is all down to David Cameron,” said Linda, who will go to London with her daughters Leander, 21, and Paige, 12.
“It’s been a stressful time, especially for the girls, and we just want it all to be over.
“Leander and Paige have watched me go through everything. I am just doing what any mother would do.
“We have never had a trial and both Daniel and Jade deserve that.
“There were times when I thought I couldn’t go on but we have come too far to stop now.”
Linda will be accompanied at Downing Street by barrister Naeem Siraj, who is now representing the families free of charge.
Mr Siraj said: “It really offends me that the system has let these families down so badly.
“At the inquest we were able to show that these children were unlawfully killed but the outcome has been nothing in terms of punishment. No one has been held responsible, and that seems so unfair.”
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