'We want to repay people's support' - Charity trek in memory of Black Country teenagers killed by dangerous driver continues
Walkers are continuing their marathon trek in memory of two Dudley teenagers Liberty Charris and Ben Corfield who were killed by a dangerous driver.
Friends and family, including Liberty's mother Tracy, are doing the 'Walk4Lib' covering 145 miles, due to finish this Saturday (October 25). On Tuesday they covered phase four from Oswestry to Corwen, a total of 22 miles, having set off from Oldbury on Saturday morning.
Today (Wednesday) they will walk 26 miles to Betws-y-Coed before completing another 40 miles on Thursday and Friday and then catching the ferry from Holyhead to Dublin where one of the group, Andrew Chambers, will take part in the city's marathon on Sunday.
Liberty, aged 16, and Ben, aged 19 died after a car struck several pedestrians gathered on the A457 Oldbury Road, Oldbury in November 2022.
In November 2024 driver Dhiya Al Maamoury was jailed for 13 and a half years for causing their deaths.
The Live4Lib charity has been set up with the aim of providing help and support to those who need it in the immediate aftermath of the death of a young person.
The walk is helping promote the work of the charity and also raise funds through sponsorship and bucket collections.
Tracy is walking alongside her former radio partner Jason Kelly; the two used to host the breakfast show on community station Black Country Radio, and at the time of her death Liberty was also an aspiring presenter.
Jason and Tracy said they were finding the fourth leg of the walk 'tough', with Jason saying the hilly nature of it was hard going.
He said: "Neither of us have done long distances before as is the same with most of the group and though we have done practice, the nature of the terrain adds another element to it but we keep on going.
"The response from people along the way has just been fantastic. One guy in a cafe emptied his pockets and gave us all his change when he heard what we were doing."
Tracy said she had broken a toenail which was making the walking tough but everyone in the 16-strong group was in good spirits.
She said: "The support our family has received and that of Ben's has been absolutely phenomenal since the incident and it made us feel we wanted to do something to raise awareness and hopefully prevent similar incidents happening.
"The effect of Liberty's death has affected my life in a way that I will never be the same person again, but maybe through the charity something worthwhile can come from it and this walk is an extension of that. Everyone has been fantastic along the way and the miles have seemed shorter because of it."
