Special report by BRIAN GOMM: Christmas is off the calendar for a once-happy family still mourning the tragic death of a 22-year-old Atherton man.

"We won't be celebrating Christmas," said Robert Huyton's grieving mum who has launched a new appeal for help to solve the mystery of the missing hour before his death.

Normally Yvonne Renshaw would set a place for Robert alongside his sisters and brothers at the family table in Warwick Road on Atherton's Hag Fold estate -- but this year dinner won't be served.

"I don't think life can ever be the same again," said the sorrowful mum who cradled her dying son in her arms after he had been involved in an accident, just two months before he was due to get engaged -- at Christmas -- to Menna, his girlfriend from North Wales.

"They were due to get married next year," recalled Mrs Renshaw, reliving the horror of seeing her younger son badly injured at the side of Cross Street, Atherton, just yards from the flat he shared with his 20 year-old brother, Mark. Police said Robert had been struck by a vehicle while lying in the middle of the road.

"I was knocked-up at one o'clock on the last Saturday in October and told about the accident. I was there five minutes after Robert had been run over. His injuries were horrific but he was talking. He told me he was trying to crawl home.

"I keep hoping this is just a big nightmare which isn't true -- but it is something which will affect us for the rest of our lives. We were just a big, happy family."

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obert died in hospital from his injuries just three hours after paramedics lifted him from his mum's arms in to an emergency ambulance.

The intense loss is shared by his parents, his sisters Jessica, Nicola and Michelle and brothers Ryan, Alan, Mark and Joseph.

Hundreds who attended his funeral at Tyldesley Parish Church and Howe Bridge Cemetery included former school pals from Tyldesley St George's and St Mary's RC High and fellow customers of The Railway in Bag Lane, Atherton. There just hours before he died Robert had enjoyed a few pints, leaving the pub around midnight to walk less than a quarter of a mile towards home.

"Robert only had about four pints all night," revealed a close relative.

"He was a young, fit lad. What we can't figure out is why it took an hour for him to get to Cross Street where he was run over? What happened in between? Somebody must have seen him or know something. He had not had enough to drink to make him fall in the middle of the road. Why he was there is a mystery."

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nd as she prepares for the most heartbreaking Christmas of her life Robert's mum is planning to lay a family wreath on the spot where he was found. She says she has been touched by the warmth of the local community who rallied in support after the accident.

Now, tormented by the tragedy, she is searching for the final piece of the jigsaw in the missing hour before he was fatally injured.

"He wasn't drunk -- so why was he lying in the road? I just pray that somebody can help put my mind at rest."

A man is due to appear in court in the New Year on charges relating to the accident which resulted in Robert Huyton's death.