Eighteen years ago this week, Lizzie Gilmour died after being hit by a car on a dark stretch of the York outer ring road.
To this day, the death of the 15-year-old has left more questions than answers. Why was she in the road, close to its junction with Askham Lane? How did she get there?
Her family have always believed that someone in the city knows more about what happened to Lizzie.
And today they made an impassioned plea for anyone with any information to come forward.
‘A joy to be around’
“Lizzie was an extremely happy, bubbly girl. She had a really kind heart,” her mum Rose Ozturkce told Minster FM.
“She was very talented – she was bringing out her first CD that year. She was a singer, she used to play shows at the Theatre Royal, Joseph Rowntree.
“She was absolutely wonderful – she was a joy to be around.”
Lizzie was a pupil at Lowfield School. Recording an open verdict at an inquest in November 2000, the then York coroner Donald Coverdale said there were questions about her “perplexing” death that might never be answered.
She was hit by a car on the A1237 about a mile from her home in St Stephen’s Road, Acomb, at 8.20pm on January 15, 2000.
Evidence showed that the driver was not speeding and could not have avoided the collision.
Lizzie had left home at about 6.30pm, upset after falling out with her boyfriend on the telephone.
‘Sheer hell’
The 18 years that have passed have done little to dilute the agony for Rose. She described it as “sheer hell. It’s been terrible.
“It still feels like yesterday. It never eases. We all feel the same. We’ve all got a chunk of ourselves missing.”
At the time around 40 people were questioned, but the police were unable to discover how she came to be on the road.
Rose is convinced someone knows more than they are saying. “How can people live with themselves and not come forward and tell us the truth?” she said, adding:
We are going to carry on and search for the truth. Because we need justice for Lizzie – I think she deserves that.
She’s had her life taken away from her. Her dreams just gone. We all want justice for Lizzie, and we’ll carry on regardless.
A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said:
“Since Lizzie’s death, we have pursued many lines of enquiry and have revisited the investigation on various occasions to see if any new light can be shed on it.
As with other unresolved cases, North Yorkshire Police is looking into whether it can gather any further information about Lizzie’s case.”
If you have any information, please contact police – details below.
How to help the police
| Call North Yorkshire Police on 101, select option 2 and ask for Julie Hughes | |
| Or call Crimestoppers 0800 555 111 |
| Email Julie Hughes here |