Akers Way: Harry Parker's parents open up on last day with son

Several months after his death in November last year, Harry Parker’s parents say they still haven’t come to terms with the devastating loss.

Speaking from their home, just minutes away from Akers Way, the road that took their son’s life, Adam and Kelly Parker talked about the devastating day they received the worst news that any parent could hear.

“That morning there was a fight between me and Harry for the shower,” Adam said.

“I needed some deodorant so I went into the bathroom and he was in there and he was like ‘get out Dad’ and we laughed and I said ‘see you later mate’.

“That was the last time I saw him, but I was glad that it was that little bit.”

Harry Parker and younger brother Alfie playing the snow (Image: Adam and Kelly Parker)

After that Harry left his home in Churchwalk to walk to school, the nearby Nova Hreod Academy, but while crossing Akers Way he was knocked down by a car, which is then believed to have driven off.

At the time both Kelly and Adam were at work.

“I received a text message from one of his teachers asking me to contact them,” Kelly said.

“I text back ‘I’ll call you at 10.30’, but then ten minutes later I had a call from my mother-in-law to tell me that Harry’s been involved in a car accident.”

Adam added: “They tried ringing me, but Vodafone’s system was down in Devizes, so no one could get through.

“Kelly contacted me on my work phone, and she couldn’t tell me what had happened, she said she needed to say something, I told her to just say it and she said, ‘it’s Harry, he's been in a car accident’. I knew then that it was going to be bad.

“I immediately start trying to make my way there, and I get a call from the police on the way who tell me to pull over so they can get me, I tell them they’re going to have to catch me.

“I remember calling his brother on the way and telling him ‘just get to Harry’. I thought that someone needed to be there. I just knew it was bad, and I felt him calling to me,” Adam said.

Kelly, who works at Swindon’s Great Western Hospital, then said she went to the emergency department to try and find Harry there because that’s where she thought he had been, and that’s when she found out that he had been airlifted to Bristol.

“We were then driven to Bristol by police on blues and twos,” Adam said, “It was the longest drive of my life.

Harry Parker and the family dog playing video games (Image: Adam and Kelly Parker)

“When we got there, we had to wait before we could see him. That wait felt like hours.”

Adam and Kelly were able to spend some time with their son before he died from his injuries later that day.

They later found out that a teacher from Nova Hreod was first at the scene and provided emergency first aid to Harry which stabilised him enough for him to be airlifted. 

Harry's death sparked an outpouring of grief with an area near Aker’s Way becoming the home of hundreds of floral tributes. Members of the public also raised thousands for the young boy’s funeral costs, which took place in December.

The pair are now at the beginning of launching a road safety campaign in Harry’s name but they added that the whole family was still struggling to come to terms with everything.

“It gets worse every day, it’s still not real, even with everything that has happened, we’re still waiting for him to come home,” Kelly said.

“I just keep thinking he’s going to walk through that door and we’re going to see him again.”

Harry died mere days before his 15th birthday, and the pair had already got everything they needed for it.

An area of the Parker's living room dedicated to Harry (Image: Newsquest)

“We had already got all his presents, we’d got him an Xbox because he loved video games, he’d play with Adam and his brothers often, so I said to Adam you keep it, he’d want you have it,” Kelly said.

Adam added: “Yeah, we’d play FIFA all the time and he’d beat me so often that I’d refuse. Now I play it sometimes and I feel close to him, but I should be playing with him.”

“He got me through some really dark times,” Adam said, “I used to look up to him. He was my best mate.”