Exclusive: Grieving parents of Hopton bike crash boy call for safety measures

GRIEVING parents have paid tribute to their son who died after he was knocked off his bike.

School prefect Declan Newsome died on Monday, three weeks after he was struck by a car in Hopton Lane, Upper Hopton.

On Tuesday, police revealed that they had caught 25 motorists speeding in the village in just 90 minutes, the week after Declan was injured.

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Now his parents, Kenneth and Harriet Newsome, have called for speed cameras and speed bumps around the spot where their 15-year-old son was fatally hurt.

People might think, ‘Oh no, not more speed cameras and speed bumps’,” Mr Newsome said. “If they are thinking that, I would have told them to come over for one day to Leeds General Infirmary to see Declan’s plight.

“Perhaps then they would have seen that driving restrictions are a must, and not just think, ‘Oh no, another camera’.”

Mrs Newsome said Declan, who wanted to become a paramedic, was everything she wanted in a son.

“I will never, ever have a son like Declan,” she said. “He was my friend and my companion.”

Read the full story with exclusive family interview in today’s Reporter.

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