Father tried to save dying son

The devastated father tended to his dying 15-year-old-son minutes after the youngster was fatally injured by a car just yards from their home.

David Preece - a popular pupil at Craigavon Senior High - died in Craigavon Hospital after he was hit as he and his friend walked home from a shop.

His devoted father Michael - who lived with David and twin sister Amy in Blackskull - rushed to the scene after the collision, which happened at around 11pm on Friday night on the Donaghcloney Road.

The grief-stricken father told of his anguish as he fought to save his son’s life.

“David and his friend were both walking on the road from the shop,” he said.

“David was at the back and the car was coming along the road and went into the back of David.

“His friend rang me straight away, hysterical, telling me: “David’s been knocked down.”

“They were just 100 yards down the road and I found them on the side of the road.

“Someone had already called the ambulance and someone else had stopped their car and were trying to give David CPR.

“I cleared the blood from his mouth and then the ambulance arrived,” the father said.

Medics worked to revive David, but the GCSE student was pronounced dead in the early hours of Saturday.

Mr Preece, who works in sales, said his lasting memory of David would be as a “brilliant, happy-go-lucky fella”.

“He loved anything to do with IT or gadgets.

“He had his own website and would buy things at a certain set price and then sell them on for a bit more.

“Any of the money he made he would take and add to his pocket money for buying clothes like Hollister and Superdry.

“I would have no computer sense myself but he just had that ability,” David’s proud dad recalled. “He had been doing it since he was 13.”

He said that his son was also able to fix computers and had a bright future ahead of him.

“He was going to be a fighter pilot,” Mr Preece said

A neighbour of the Preece family, who did not want to be named, said that her daughter had been friends with David and had enjoyed many happy times with him.

She said the tragedy was the third accident to happen on that stretch of the Donaghcloney Road.