A COUPLE of good Samaritans have started a campaign to help pay for tragic hit-and-run victim Andy Mundy’s funeral.

Mr Mundy, of Fortuneswell, Portland, was knocked down and killed a year ago and his family remains in debt to the funeral directors over the unpaid bill.

But now Philip Moreton and his girlfriend Rachel Mortimer from Osmington are starting a fundraising campaign to help pay off the £1,750 outstanding from the £2,000 bill.

Miss Mortimer came up with the idea after reading in the Dorset Echo that the debt is causing problems for Mr Mundy’s children Ashley Sawtell and Luke and Jasmine Mundy.

She said: “They need money for the funeral so we thought we could help the family out.

“It’s bad enough for them to have lost somebody without having all that as well. It would be great if everybody came forward to help.”

Mr Moreton, 25, and Miss Mortimer, 18, plan to ask fellow residents in Osmington for donations.

They will then move on to raise cash in Preston and other areas of Weymouth.

Mr Mundy was 44 when he was knocked down by a vehicle on Verne Hill Road, Portland, on the evening of August 8, last year. No driver has been charged or prosecuted over his death and therefore his family have not been able to claim his funeral costs against anyone’s insurance.

The family have so far been unsuccessful in applying for financial help from the Social Fund through the Department of Work and Pensions.

Mr Moreton said he feels compelled to try and help because his family in Shrewsbury have been through a similar ordeal over the deaths of two relatives.

He said: “It was Rachel’s idea and as I’ve lost a couple of loved ones I thought it would be a good idea to try and take a bit of pressure off of them.

“I saw the write-up and I remember hearing about it last year.

“And I thought someone would be caught for it.”

Mr Mundy’s ex-partner Claire Chapman described Mr Moreton and Miss Mortimer’s help as ‘heartwarming’.

Mrs Chapman, of Dorchester Road, Weymouth, said: “It’s nice to know there are still good people out there that care about the community and the plight of others.

“It’s heartwarming that they understand what we’re going through and have some compassion.”

Mrs Chapman said she and her children were very thankful for the ‘kind’ gesture.

She said: “It’s only through the Echo and these people that we’ve had the feeling that people are helping. The police have done their job as much as they can but the community on Portland have stabbed us in the back in a way.

“There are witnesses and people who’ve got information who’ve let us down when they could have come forward.”