Tragedy Of Little Jack...

I've been reading the news items on little Jack Anderson and it just breaks your heart.

For those from further afield who don't know about the story, Jack, who was 10, was knocked down and killed last Thursday in an Edinburgh housing area not far from where I grew up. He was crossing the road at a pedestrian crossing on a green man, the traffic lights at red but the driver of the car that hit him headed straight through them passing stationary vehicles who had stopped at the lights as he did so. The driver was travelling at the time at an estimated speed of 80 mph. It was about 3.25pm, that time of day when the kids are getting out of school and making the walk home. Jack was just 200 yards from his front door. The driver hit him, left him for dead and kept driving.

It has emerged the car used was a former police car designed for high speed chases. It was a peugeot 406 GTX V6. It has also emerged that police were chasing the vehicle in the lead up to the accident following another incident in the Corstorphine area of Edinburgh. This wee revelation has led many to question why the hell the police saw fit to chase a car at speeds of up to 80 mph through a built up that they must have known would be full of kids at that time of day...the area the chase went through is home to at least 4 primary schools.

The driver, who was accompanied by 2 other passengers, then dumped the vehicle in the car park at Saughton Prison and all 3 were seen making a run for it. They have yet to be found.

Bizarrely, last Thursday we had gone into my Mum's at 4.15pm. My Mum lives within stone throw distance of Saughton Prison and her window actually looks onto the Prison car park. We seen the police out in huge numbers, they were doing door to door and had cordoned off an area in the prison. We watched it all from the window in Mum's lounge and we commented on how something big must have happened. You get a bit blase though and having grown up next to the prison we had witnessed on a number of occasions police in the area and it was normally linked to an escape or attempted escape. Sadly this one was linked to a wee boy being needlessly killed as we found out later.

It has left that horrible feeling that you get when you hear of the death of a child especially one from round "your neck of the woods". In this case it's a bit more sad for me as I actually know Jack's Mum as we are former work colleagues. My heart goes out to her and the rest of Jack's family and friends.

I hope they find the bastards who have robbed Yvonne of her little boy, who have stolen precious memories yet to be made, who have cut that wee boys life short in the most senseless and needless way. To leave a child lying for dead in a road and drive off is a sickening act of cowardice and I hope those fuckers never get another nights sleep again, I hope their conscience eats at them eternally and the guilt kills them. For you can bet your ass that it will be along time before Jack's family sleep well again.

Rest In Peace Wee Man.

Jenny xx