THE callous driver who left an 83-year-old man dying in the road after an accident was today condemned as a "coward" by the pensioner's relatives.

Edward Boardman, of Blake Gardens, Halliwell died yesterday in the Royal Bolton Hospital from injuries he sustained in the hit and run on Valentine's Day.

The driver is believed to have told Mr Boardman that he was going for help following the accident at the junction of Darley Street and Eskrick Street, Halliwell.

But he got back in his car and drove off, leaving the elderly man in agony.

His niece Mrs Edith Nercessian and her husband Vahak, said they were "very angry" that anyone could treat Mr Boardman, a retired weaver, so cruelly. Mr Nercessian said: "You must expect accidents to happen, you can accept that. But to leave him there just to bleed to death is a very cowardly act. It was calculated.

"We think it is very important that this man is caught. We don't have revenge in our minds we just don't want him to do this again."

Mr Nercessian added that Mr Boardman, a widower with no children, was very independent and still lived at home and looked after himself.

He said: "His pigeons were his life, he was devoted to them especially after his wife May died about 15 years ago. He had a loft on an allotment and he went there every day.

"We think he may have been on his way or on his way back from the allotments off Avenue Street when the accident happened."

Mr Boardman suffered multiple injuries.

Mr Nercessian said: "It is very sad. No one deserves to go this way. If he had died of natural causes it is some how easier to accept."

Police said today that a 19-year-old youth has been interviewed in connection with the accident, and a file has been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service.

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