SEVEN months after his father died when he was struck by a stolen car, grieving Malcolm Sargeant lives in hope that his killer will be caught.

Mr Sargeant, 55, admitted after an inquest in to his 88-year-old father Ernest's death, that he had received counselling to help him get over the tragedy.

"I can't relax until somebody is caught. Somebody knows more about this than we have been told. I can understand people not wanting to stir things, after all they have to live on the estate. But I think people perhaps know more about who did this," said Mr Sargeant.

He said his father was born in Wales, but from the age of two until he was in his 20s, he had lived in Hindsford. He then went to live in Devonshire Road, Atherton, and had lived in the town ever since.

An ex-boxer, Chanters pitman and council gardener, he loved to talk about his life's experiences and enjoyed the company of others. He had made a habit of travelling to Leigh where he would enjoy a cafe meal and a couple of drinks, often in The Globe in Bradshawgate, where he often engaged in friendly conversation with others much younger than himself.

On the night he died, Mr Sargeant had nipped in to his local chip shop. But, after taking a short cut across the car park of his local pub, he never got the chance to enjoy his fish and chip supper. Coroner rules Ernie's death was unlawful AN inquest at Leigh heard 88-year-old Ernest Sargeant called into the pub to collect an umbrella he had earlier left there.

It heard Mr Sargeant was hit by the reversing vehicle at 9.20pm on Monday, February 26 this year.

Despite the efforts of pubgoers who tried to save him, he was pronounced dead shortly afterwards at the Royal Bolton Hospital.

Malcolm Sargeant told the inquest his father lived at Shelley Court, Hag Fold -- a short distance from where he was struck on the Poet's Corner car park.

Malcolm Sargeant said: "He started getting his life back together after a kidney stone problem. He was active and fit and started to go out for a couple of pints.

"I hope who did this gets caught and put away for it."

Pathologist Dr Jonathan Pearson, who carried out the post-mortem examination, was unable to attend the inquest, but his notes were read by Coroner Mr Aidan Cotter.

He said the examination showed acute left ventricular failure and a head injury. There was an abrasion and contusion of the scalp, a skull fracture and a small haemorrhage.

Mr Cotter advised Malcolm Sargeant: "These injuries in themselves would not be enough to kill a young, fit, healthy man, but they were enough to kill Mr Sargeant because he was an elderly man with a heart problem.

"The person who drove the car into Mr Sargeant is directly responsible for his death, although is it not the head injury itself which killed him.

"It is obvious your father died because he was hit by that stolen car that reversed into him."

Witness Steven Leese said he saw the collision. Unlawful killing From Page 1 He said: "I came off the estate near the car park and there was a a car with its wheels spinning on the grass verge. I saw a lad with one hand on the bumper and one on the bonnet trying to rock it. In a split second, I saw the old gent walk by as the car went off the grass and it hit him.

"They bailed out of the car and were laughing as they ran past the front of the Pretoria (the former name of the Poet's Corner pub). I followed them and they went up Windermere Avenue and into the front of somebody's garden. They knew they had hit somebody, definitely."

Mr Leese said the driver was wearing a light top with an emblem on the front and he estimated both males were in their early 20s.

Another witness, James Hope, said he was about 30 feet away from the accident scene.

"I heard the car revving and it just flew back at top speed in reverse. He had no chance he went up six foot in the air, landed on the back of the car and then went underneath it. The passenger and driver jumped out, took a look and they legged it."

Mr Hope said he ran in to the pub for help.

The inquest heard emergency services were quickly on the scene. Within hours, police arrested two people, a local man and another, originally from Wales, who was living at the same address.

But no fingerprints, DNA samples or fibres were found in the vehicle linking it to the suspects. The car, a blue Vauxhall Cavalier, had been reported stolen the previous week.

The inquest heard one man was charged following Mr Sargeant's death and appeared three times before magistrates by the case was discontinued because of lack of forensic evidence.

Mr Cotter said: "A great deal of police time and effort went in to try to find whoever killed Mr Sargeant. Notwithstanding that Police have been unable to find who was responsible."

Tree surgeon Carl Nuttall, who helped move the vehicle off Mr Sargeant, said in a statement said one of the men seen with the car wore dark clothing and the other had on a cream coloured top with a hood. The one with the cream top he said he saw in the driving seat revving the car engine.

Pat Dodd, joint host at the Poet's Corner, said she last saw Mr Sargeant about 9pm on the night of his death.

She said: "I thought he was going home but he had gone across the road to the chip shop and called back in to retrieve his umbrella which he had left. He was not drunk by any means.

"He had stayed in the pub longer than he normally did. He wasn't a guzzler -- a pint would last him 40 minutes."

She said before the incident she had asked customers to watch two suspicious men who were near the one-armed bandit machine and who left the pub within 10 minutes of Mr Sargeant's initial departure.

Pub customer Christine Robinson said she and her boyfriend had noticed "two young lads" acting suspiciously near a car as they went in to the Poet's Corner. Later she gave Mr Sargeant the kiss of life and her boyfriend helped others lit the vehicle off Mr Sargeant.

Detective Inspector Steve Nolan of Leigh CID said within two hours two of the incident prime suspects had been arrested.

But he said: "We found no evidence to link any persons with that car."

He also said a footwear impression found at the accident scene did not tie in with any worn by the suspects.

He appealed for a third man to come forward. He said he believed that man wearing a green fleece jacket had been in a nearby shop and may have vital evidence.

Mr Cotter told the inquest one of the suspects, Christopher Aspey, who should have appeared as an inquest witness but did not, agreed to take part in an identity parade but this was called off because he was said to be too unique in appearance.

PC Ian Law of GMP accident investigation unit said the car involved had reversed approximately three car lengths and was unlikely to have reached 20 mph over that distance.

Mr Cotter said: "I have heard the name of Christopher Aspey mentioned several times. He hasn't attended today although I had intended him to. I will be asking my successor to ask him why he failed to attend. He could be punished.

"He had been charged but the charge has been discontinued. That doesn't mean that is the end of it. He could be charged again with the same offence, causing Mr Sargeant's death by aggravated vehicle taking.

"I have allowed his name to be mentioned freely in court today. It is not my job to carry out a police investigation. It seems to me that where we have a crime of this kind that although the injury to Mr Sargeant probably wasn't intended, nevertheless I am sure it occurred as a result of an illegal act.

"There were a large number of witnesses who saw a great deal of what happened. In this case everybody except one has helped the police.

"Remember there is nothing at all from the car that links Aspey with having been in that car. He was prepared to go on an identity parade, his friend did go on that parade and wasn't picked-out. There was some forensic evidence recovered from the scene which did not relate to Aspey but to an unknown person.

"I think it is important to you all to know that this is a case where everybody has tried hard to find the culprit.

"I hope in due course the people who did cause Mr Sargeant's death are caught and given appropriate sentences."

"It may not have been a deliberate killing but it was a killing that did result from an unlawful act.

"Despite the fact Aspey hasn't come to this inquest there is no evidence that is sufficient to say Aspey is responsible for this crime.

"Where we have a system of justice it is unfair for public rumour to condemn people when all the evidence does not support a case being brought against them."

But he said there was still no evidence that linked Aspey to the car.

Verdict: Ernest Sargeant was killed unlawfully. 'Somebody knows more about this than we have been told'