A YOUNGSTER knocked down by a stolen car was last night fighting for his life after his condition deteriorated.

Eight-year-old Daniel Curtin suffered serious head injuries when he was struck by the car on a cycle path.

The Middlesbrough boy was knocked down in Riverside Park, in the Newport area of the town, last week when the car careered out of control.

Daniel, a pupil at Ayresome Primary School, was one of a group watching a Rover Metro being driven around a cycle path when the accident happened.

His mother, Clare, who has kept a vigil at his bedside, said last night: "Daniel's still on a ventilator. He's had a scan and the swelling has gone down on his brain but doctors have said it is going to be a long haul.

"He's always been a happy-go-lucky, cheeky kid, though, and a little fighter."

Mrs Curtin urged people to look at the photographs of her son and think about the consequences of driving a stolen car.

"I want people to know that this is what happens when your child is hit by a car. It could so easily be your own child," she said.

"Kids really need to take a hard look at this photograph and, hopefully, it will make them think twice if they are ever tempted to get behind the wheel of a car."

Four youths fled from the car after the accident, while many children from a group of 20 that were watching the car also ran from the scene.

"The heartbreaking thing is some of the people who knew Daniel ran away and left him - it was only a small group of friends that stayed with him until help arrived," she said.

Daniel's condition was last night described as critical by staff at The James Cook University Hospital.

A 15-year-old boy is due to appear before Teesside Magistrates Court, today, charged with aggravated vehicle taking where injury was caused. Lee Fenton, 19, of Oxford Street, Middlesbrough, will also appear after he admitted being carried in a vehicle which later caused injury to the eight-year-old.