THE wife of an alleged hit-and-run victim left fighting for life has spoken of her family's devastation.

Zahid Hussain, 26, a former pupil of Blackburn's Pleckgate High School, suffered serious head injuries after being struck by a vehicle in Shearwater Drive on Saturday evening.

Police are treating it as a suspected hit-and-run.

In an emotional plea for witnesses, Mr Hussain's wife of three years, Sophia, 24, told of her family's torment. And she revealed their four-year-old daughter keep asking "When is Daddy coming home?"

She said: "Our youngest daughter Sophina is only four months old so she doesn't really know what's going on. But Jasmina, who's four, wants to know whether daddy can come home now. It is really upsetting. She's such a daddy's girl and he loves his kids to bits."

Mrs Hussain, who lives with Zahid and their daughters in Boxwood Street, Blackburn, added: "It is awful seeing him like this. He has four fractures to his skull and he is sedated to allow the swelling to go down on his brain.

"When he has been brought out of sedation we expect him to be his normal self, but he's not the Zahid we know, and he doesn't even know who I am. The hardest part is waiting to know whether he's going to be the same as before."

Police said Zahid, who remains in a critical condition at Royal Blackburn Hospital, had been involved in a row with two men shortly before he was struck by the vehicle around 6.25pm.

Detectives have recovered a silver Volkswagen Golf in Percival Street, Blackburn.

Mrs Hussain revealed her shock at being told of the accident.: "He left the house in the afternoon to buy chapatis," she said. "One minute he was talking to me then the next he's on a life support machine. The possibility someone left him lying in the road is awful."

Mrs Hussain has been joined in her bedside vigils by her husband's family, including relatives from London, where Zahid lived until moving to Blackburn aged 12.

His uncle, Mohammed Akhtar, of Accrington Road, Blackburn, pleaded for witnesses. He said: "We just want justice for Zahid and ask that people come forward while things are fresh in people's minds."

A 19-year-old man from the Whalley Range area has been arrested and released on police bail pending further inquiries.

Anyone with information should contact Blackburn police on 01254 51212 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.