FIVE-year-old Steven Wassell, fatally injured on a busy road near his home, would have loved a garden to play in say his parents as they prepare to face a bleak Christmas in a first floor flat at Trafalgar Road, Wallasey.

However, cards of sympathy from Steven's school have brought some warmth and comfort for Steven's mother, pregnant Lynn, who also has a one-year-old son, Michael. When the Globe was invited to call toddler Mikey, was in a high chair tucking into his tea, unable to understand where his cheerful brother has gone.

Speaking for the first time since the death, with Steven's stepfather Alun, Lynn described a mischievous boy in his first year at Egremont Primary School, who loved the boys and girls there and teacher Christine Bell. "The card they sent us we will frame and keep for ever," say the heartbroken couple.

Steven slipped out from home and was involved in a collision with a Land Rover in King Street, at 6pm, on November 25.

Lynn says Steven wanted to go out all the time, he particulary liked visiting the staff at the Apollo Cinema, at the bottom of the road, in King Street, where the staff have been so kind since the tragedy. "Everyone in the neighbourhood has been so sympathetic and kind."

Steven liked pool and snooker and watched it on TV. There is a snooker hall in King Street while Steven's own snooker table lies resting against a wall in the flat. A sad reminder of a lost young life as Christmas approaches.

"If only we had a garden, then maybe Steven would not have gone out on his adventures," reflects Lynn, who expects a baby daughter, Chelsea, in the New Year.

Headteacher at Egremont Primary, Gordon Lester said the whole school is still upset and in mourning. "In the New Year we are looking at raising money to spend on the school playground in memory of Steven."

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