FIFTEEN years after Caroline Elliott died following a hit-and-run incident in Sefton Park, people came together to remember and pay tribute to the medical student.
Caroline, 22, was jogging around the park with her best friend, Sarah Edenbrow, 21, on November 14, 1996, when the driver of a stolen car ploughed into them.
Caroline, from St Albans, Hertfordshire, died in hospital in the early hours of the next day.
Fellow University of Liverpool student Sarah, from Boston in Lincolnshire, suffered serious head and leg injuries but eventually made a remarkable recovery.
Yesterday, along with so many others, Sarah, 36 – now Sarah Aldabbagh – was once again back at the scene of the tragedy, and again remembering Caroline as she sat on the memorial bench she organised in tribute to her friend.
Sarah, now a GP who lives with her husband Ameer, daughter Alex, seven, and son Tomas, four, in Poynton, Cheshire, took two years to recover from her serious injuries, though she says, quietly: “I suppose you never completely recover, do you?”
Sarah then revealed she had, finally, taken up running again, explaining: “I’m training for a half marathon in Helsby that’s coming up in January so I recently started jogging again – it took me this long. There was a lot holding me back mentally.”
Regarding the commemoration, she said: “It’s lovely to see all the flowers and messages and how Caroline is still remembered.”
Caroline’s parents, Ann and Mike, organised the event, and Mrs Elliott said: “It’s amazing. Joggers have stopped to talk to us and tell us that they still think about Caroline, even though they didn’t know her. It is a great help and comfort to us. I’ve always known Liverpool people are great. I know what happened, happened here – but it could have happened anywhere. And Caroline was so happy in Liverpool – she loved it.”
Mr Elliott said: “Caroline was a very bubbly, outgoing girl. And if she wanted to do something she made sure she did it. She got where she wanted through hard work and threw herself into her medical studies.”
Mrs Elliott adds: “When Caroline walked into a room it lit up. Her friends always remember her as being the life and soul of the party – and as a very caring person.”
Lee Davies, from Stockbridge Village, who police believe was behind the wheel of the stolen car, died five days after the hit and run incident. The 21-year-old suffered fatal injuries following a high-speed police chase through Shrewsbury, in Shropshire.
