Browse Sections

• School league tables

Mother's appeal over shot son

Paul Britton
22/ 7/2008

THE heartbroken mum of a promising young footballer shot dead in a takeaway has made a direct appeal to the killer's mother to shop her son.

Anne McCollin, 52, appealed to the gunman's parents to `search their consciences' and come forward.

Her moving plea came six months after Halton McCollin, 20, was gunned down at the China Garden takeaway in Stretford.

She said: "I would appeal directly to the mother of the murderer - from one mother to another. Please search your conscience. Come forward and help us get justice for Halton.

"Even if your son is in jail you can still see him and still hold him. I will never see my son again."

"You know that your son has done this. Please come forward and do the right thing. Do not be afraid of what you have to do now, which is to help us."

Anne, a nurse manager at a care home, described her son as a `passing angel'. Call centre worker Halton, from Stretford, a former pupil at Parrs Wood High School who played football for Flixton FC, was hit in the back of the head by a single bullet after two masked men burst into the takeaway and fired three times.

Halton died in hospital three days later. He was due to leave for a family holiday to Barbados on the day of his death.

Consciences

Anne said: "I would like to think that the parents of these people have an idea. I am a mother and I would ask the parents of the killers to search their consciences. They must have an idea of what their children have done."

The gunmen escaped in a dark blue Vectra at 8.45pm on January 19. Halton could have been the victim of mistaken identity, police said.

Speaking for the first time Anne said: "The last six months have been a surreal situation.

"I have become a victim of this culture of crime that we are all living in. It hurts and I feel powerless.

"Halton was a passing angel. If I had realised I would have only had him for 20 years I would have fitted a lot more in.

"I just want to say to the families of these men, please come forward. I want them to come forward and help us.

"They have taken away my son's life and they have ruined their own lives. They cannot turn the clock back."

A reward of £20,000 is available for information leading to a conviction. Detectives said it was `likely' that his killers have gangland connections although they stress Halton was not involved in gangs. Two masked men were seen running towards the takeaway from an alley before the shooting. A third walked up a road past the Gorse Hill pub before two of them ran into the takeaway and fired.

Police also revealed that the murder may be linked to a shooting on Talbot Road in Stretford days before. The gunmen in that incident escaped in a similar car.

A dark blue Vectra was found burned-out days after Halton was shot.

Anne said: "I appeal to anyone who knows who has done it to come forward. It has not got any easier with time. It is very hard. Each day just draws into another day.

"My biggest appeal, however, is to the families of these murderers. Please help us by helping the police. They have killed their own brother."

Most recent 2 of 4 user comments