I MISS him so much.

They are the tearful words of the mother of promising young diver Gavin Hustler-Brown who was killed in a hit-and-run accident in Southampton.

As she prepares to mark the second anniversary of his death tomorrow, Christine Brown has made a fresh appeal to anyone who knows where the man believed to be responsible is hiding to come forward.

The Daily Echo can reveal that a £1,000 reward has also been put up to find the driver in the hope that someone will provide the vital information.

Gavin was killed after being hit by a car as he crossed Bevois Valley Road close to The Hobbit pub in the early hours of April 28, 2007. He was left for dead in the road as the driver and other occupants of the blue Vauxhall Astra drove off.

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The car was discovered abandoned about three hours later in a nearby street.

Last year police investigating the accident, which happened as Gavin was making his way home after a night out, took the unusual step of naming the man thought to have been behind the wheel.

They believed Lukasz Marcin Banasik left the country and returned to his native Poland immediately after the crash, which happened about 2am.

Initial enquiries to try to track him down involved officers travelling to Poland as part of Operation Rhone, but the search was fruitless.

Five people arrested shortly after 22-year-old Gavin’s death were released without further action.

Speaking to the Daily Echo ahead of laying flowers at the scene of her son’s death tomorrow, Christine said: “The last two years have been awful. It’s no different now than when it first happened.

People say it gets better with time, but really it doesn’t – you just have to learn to live with it.

“You have to force yourself to get on day by day and I do – but it’s incredibly hard. It’s not good because I miss him so much.”

Christine said she been given a boost after hearing that a solicitors’ firm that helps victims of road accidents had offered a £1,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of whoever is responsible.

Hughes-Walker solicitors, based in Bury, Lancashire, offered the cash incentive after being contacted by Southampton diver Blake Aldridge who is fundraising for victims of road accidents and also highlighting the bid to find whoever is responsible for the hit-and-run that killed his friend.

Christine said: “I feel like I have found a bit of fighting spirit to carry on. We are determined to find whoever was responsible. I feel the need to be in Southampton on the anniversary of Gavin’s death, to lay flowers where he died.”

Gavin, a popular member of Britain’s diving community, had spent the early part of the evening of his death enjoying a barbecue at the home of his friend, Olympic diver Pete Water-field, before the pair went out with a group of friends.