He said 'I won't be long' as he headed off to the pub - he never came home

The parents of a teenager who was hit over the head and stabbed to death in the street have opened up on their heartache as a man wanted over his murder remains on the run.

Matthew Daulby told his dad Gary and mum Angela he "wouldn't be long" as he made his way to the pub just hours before his death they said. But tragically, he never came home.

Matthew, from the village of Lydiate, on the border of Lancashire and Merseyside, was fatally wounded on July 29, 2023, in Ormskirk, near Wigan, as a mass brawl broke out between groups of men from the Lancashire town and Maghull.

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He had gone to the town with nine others after receiving a message to a group chat from a friend who had been assaulted while on a night out, the Liverpool Echo reports.

The two groups met on Railway Road, near Alpine Bar in Ormskirk, before a fight broke out. Matthew received a blow to the head with a rock before being stabbed in the chest by another man.

Then he made his way to Moorgate where he collapsed as he bled heavily. He was rushed to Aintree University Hospital but was pronounced dead at 1.25am.

In March this year, Harry Houghton, of Barrison Green, Scarisbrick, claimed he was not part of the planned attack but a jury rejected his account of his actions moments before Matthew was killed and convicted him of murder. Appearing at Preston Crown Court, the 19-year-old was jailed for life with a minimum of 20 years.

Speaking at the family home in Lydiate, in Sefton, Merseyside where Matthew once ran up and down the stairs with his older brother, they emotionally paid tribute to their son. Gary said: "He was just a young teenager who was making his way in