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Boy faces months in wheelchair after alleged hit-and-run

Telor Iwan
BBC News
Jo Newman Nine-year-old Theo Rees lying in bed at home holding a red Xbox remote. He is wearing a white t-shirt and grey jogging shorts and has a big plaster on his right leg.Jo Newman
Theo broke his thigh bone and both of his shin bones in the crash

A nine-year-old boy faces spending months in a wheelchair after a being hit by a car in a suspected hit-and-run while riding his bike.

Theo Rees broke his leg in three places after being hit by a car in Pontypool, Torfaen.

His mum, Jo Newman, 46, said he had been through a "horrible, horrible experience" and urged whoever was responsible to come forward.

Gwent Police has appealed for witnesses and any footage of a car, believed to be a BMW, travelling where Theo was found.

Jo Newman Jo Newman, who has blonde hair and glasses, with her son at Cardiff's Noah's Ark Children's Hospital. He is lying in a bed with a bandaged leg in a hospital gownJo Newman
Theo's mum Jo said he had been through a "horrible, horrible" experience

Theo went out for a bike ride at about 19:10 BST on 8 July near his home when he was hit.

"We wait until that time so that the end of the day traffic has died down," said Ms Newman.

"There is an air tag on his bike so I know where he is and a few minutes later I noticed he was still at the bottom of the road."

The mum said she thought he was speaking to a friend and decided to go to see him.

On her way she met a neighbour who said "you've got a boy haven't you, he's come off his bike near the line".

"It was 30 seconds from my home," Ms Newman said.

"The neighbour also told me there was a man in a silver BMW with Theo."

By the time Ms Newman reached her son, who was lying on a grass verge, he was being looked after by neighbours including a teacher from a local school.

The teacher covered Theo's legs with a blanket and told his mum the boy had given way for a motorist to drive down the hill.

Ms Newman said she thought whoever had driven into her son must have carried him and his bike to a nearby grass verge and taken his helmet off.

"I think [they] must have been checking if Theo was alive," she said.

The mum said she would "like to think" the motorist panicked and drove away as they were scared, but hoped they didn't have children and didn't "have to go through this".

"I really don't know what I would say to this person," she added, before calling on the motorist to have a "conscience" and come forward.

Jo Newman Theo, who has short light brown hair, is wearing a red t-shirt and sat in a wheelchair with a drink can and a book open on his lap. A fence and a patch of long grass can be seen behind him. Jo Newman
Theo Rees is facing months in a wheelchair before can start to walk again

Ms Newman said the ambulance crew noticed Theo had a broken femur when they tried to roll him over on to a stretcher.

"I have never heard screaming like that coming from a child, and then their whole demeanour changed."

The medics took two hours to stabilise Theo before he was taken to Noah's Ark Children's hospital in Cardiff.

The next morning he underwent a four-hour operation and now has plates in both his thighbone and shinbone.

Jo Newman Theo Rees visited by his best friend Jacob, with both sitting on a hospital bed. Both are wearing red t-shirts and shorts and are smiling. Theo is wearing a big black and blue boot on one foot. Jo Newman
Theo and his best friend Jacob at Noah's Ark Children's hospital in Cardiff

"This has been so traumatic for him," she said.

"It's horrible, horrible and I wouldn't wish this on anyone."

Theo cannot remember anything other than being hit by a car and waking up to be surrounded by people. Luckily, said his mother, he cannot remember the pain.

"He's a lot better now that he is home, but he misses his friends and his school. The school have been amazing as has the community. But he misses his football."

Gwent Police has appealed for witnesses or anyone with CCTV or dashcam footage from the Merchants Hill area of Wainfelin, near Pontypool, between 19:15 and 19:45 on 8 July to get in touch.