Cloughmills: Sarah Gilmour 'cannot believe' son, Adam, died in County Antrim crash

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-30094463

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The mother of an eight-year-old boy who was killed after his family was knocked down by a car has said she cannot believe Adam "is gone".

Adam Gilmour was walking to meet a school bus with his mother and siblings when the accident happened near Cloughmills, County Antrim, last week.

His five-year-old brother needed hospital treatment.

Sarah Gilmour has blamed the North Eastern Education and Library board for Adam's death.

She said she has not heard from the education board since the crash.

Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster's The Nolan Show programme, she said they "had not had the decency to reply in any way" after she had flagged up concerns about the safety of the road on which she has to walk her children to school.

"I hold them responsible for this, if they had have sorted out the lifts, to come up that small distance in the morning, Adam would be here," she added.

"The news hasn't sunk in that he's gone. I don't think I'll ever get over it. I can't get my head around it. I can't believe it's true.

"You see all the television programmes with all the accidents and children being knocked down, I never, ever, ever thought in my life I would be burying one of mine.

"If I have to go back up to that house, I don't want to go back up to that house, none of my children will ever walk out that gate. Should I have to keep them off school and get in bother for doing that, I will, until there is a bus or a taxi to come in and lift them. There's absolutely no way.

"Transport was told about how dangerous the road was and the risks walking children down it, and it was like water off a duck's back.

'Mindboggling'

"It's mindboggling. I said someone was going to get skittled, or something like that.

"I would rather put me and my children in a tent than go near that road or that house.

"I'm dreading Christmas. I know I have to do it for the other kids but it will never be the same, ever," she said.

Adam's grandmother, Marlene Hanna, has also blamed the education and library board for not providing a bus to take them to school.

The bus leaves some of the children home but does not pick them up there.

Education Minister John O'Dowd has asked his officials to seek a report on the accident from the board.

On Sunday, a private service was held at Adam's grandmother's house in the village of Cloughmills, close to where the accident happened, before a funeral service.

An 18-year-old man was arrested over the crash and was later released on police bail.