Shocking injuries of five-year-old boy, mown down by uninsured, unlicensed hit-and-run driver

These are the shocking injuries caused by a “lunatic” driver who mowed down a five-year-old boy as he walked along the pavement two days after Christmas.

“Disgraceful” Anthony Cahill took his girlfriend’s BMW 5 Series despite not having a licence or insurance and ploughed into little Riley Flaherty, just yards from his front door in Kirkby.

The youngster was dragged under the high-powered vehicle after the speeding 30-year-old skidded round the corner on two wheels and crashed through two walls.

Riley Flaherty

Miraculously, he avoided any life-threatening injury as Cahill fled the scene in Kirkby. He was later found hiding in a cupboard at home.

Park Brow Community Primary School pupil Riley narrowly avoided needing plastic surgery to repair the huge gash on his ankle, but has constant nightmares about the horror crash.

Riley Flaherty, aged five, and the injuries he sustained after a illegal driver careered into him as he walked home in Kirkby over Christmas

Describing the incident, on December 27, at the junction with Ravenhead Avenue and Shirdley Avenue, mum Leanne, 34, told the ECHO: “My mum had the five children on Boxing Night.

“We were bringing them home to play with their toys. We heard the car before we saw it as the engine was really roaring.

“We told all the kids to wait, but heard the screech of tyres, and saw the BMW come round the corner on two wheels.

“It mounted the kerb, hit the wall, carried on turning, and then hit Riley.

“We feared the worst but amazingly, he had mainly cuts and bruises.

“Someone from above was definitely looking after him that day.

“It was horrible to see. It brought back bad memories for me as my brother was killed on the East Lancs Road 18 years ago.”

Dad Edward, 37, an IT worker, who now suffers anxiety attacks. He said: “We thought Riley was really badly injured, and immediately saw the blood on his legs.”

The parents also slammed smiling Cahill’s 18 month jail term which he received on Monday after admitting aggravated vehicle taking, driving without insurance, refusing to provide a specimen of breath and damaging a the police car.

Anthony Cahill jailed for aggravated vehicle taking

Leanne said: “He’s going to get out in nine months on a tag and could go on to kill someone else.

“He got behind the wheel of car, despite past driving offences, and drove like a lunatic. What’s to stop him doing exactly the same again?”

They also revealed how their four other children, aged 12, 10, seven, and four, witnessed the collision and are now too scared to walk to their grandparents home, just 17 doors away from their own house.

One of the children repeatedly asks: “Is the bad man still living with the police?”

Ravenhead Avenue, in Kirkby

Former drug dealer Cahill, of Rockford Avenue, Kirkby, had nipped out in his pyjamas to buy some food without telling his sleeping partner that he was taking her new car.

Cahill, appearing for his third aggravated vehicle taking offence, was banned from driving for four years

Judge Alan Conrad, QC, told him: “There may be worse cases of aggravated vehicle taking but it is pretty hard to imagine that there could be.”

Stories from the courts

Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/