Aidan McAteer appears in court over hit and run

Aidan McAteer, 23, was charged with causing the death of Violet-Grace, who died in hospital on Saturday.

She was struck by a black Ford Fiesta while walking through St Helens, Merseyside, last Friday afternoon.

He was also charged with causing serious injury to her grandmother Angela French, 55, by dangerous driving and with stealing a black Ford Fiesta from an address in Liverpool on March 20.

McAteer, who wore a blue top and grey tracksuit bottoms, stared at the floor throughout the hearing at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court.

He gave his address as no fixed abode.

He had been sought by police following the crash and his mother, Alicia McAteer, 41, appealed for him to come home after recognising him in a CCTV image released by police.

McAteer was remanded in custody and will appear at a preliminary hearing at Liverpool Crown Court on April 26.

That is along with Dean Brennan, 27, who is charged with assisting an offender, theft of a motor vehicle and the aggravating offence of allowing oneself to be carried within a stolen vehicle.

A third man, 23 and from Prescot, was arrested on suspicion of being carried in a stolen vehicle but later released pending further inquiries.