AN inspirational couple told a Westhoughton church congregation how they met and forgave the three thugs who killed their son.

Ray and Vi Donovan's son Chris was murdered in 2001 after being punched and kicked on the ground, and left unconscious in the middle of the road before a car ran him over and dragged him 40 metres.

They have not only forgiven the three teenagers eventually convicted of his killing — but gone to meet all of them face-to-face.

Brave Mr Donovan, aged 63, turned to his wife as they left hospital following Chris' death and said: "We are going to have to forgive these guys, you know."

She turned to him and said they did not deserve it.

But 13 years on, the Surrey couple spoke at a packed Westhoughton Pentecostal Church on Sunday, August 9, and explained how they forgave the killers.

Mr Donovan said: "I knew that if I did not forgive them, it was going to hurt me and make me ill. We soon came to that realisation.

"Some people take a long time, others realise straight away.

"After the trial, one of the fathers came up to me and held out his arms and said 'I'm sorry'.

"I hugged him and the police there said they had never seen anything like it. The dad said to me he came over because he wanted me to hit me.

"That is what we talked about in the church. If you hold on to that bit of anger, it will destroy you."

Mike Higson, a deacon at Westhoughton Pentecostal Church, and the man who approached the Donovans about addressing the congregation, said: "We were all amazed at what they had to say.

"When you hear about people forgiving those who killed their son, it makes you think about yourself, and those grievances you have which are far less serious."

The couple have been staggered by the responses they have had from the 15, 16 and 19-year-old murderers — who all have now been released.

Mrs Donovan, aged 61, said: "When we met the first one, he was 25, and he said he was a 15-year-old coward and had murdered Chris and he was sorry, and that he couldn't get Chris out of his head. We were not expecting him to be so candid."

The couple said one of the killers ran into the meeting and sobbed on Mr Donovan's shoulder, saying he was sorry.

One of the offenders wrote to the Chris Donovan Trust after being released in 2011, and said meeting the couple had made him "feel like a human being again".

Chris would have been 19 the week after he died.

His brother Philip, who was attacked by the youths before Chris intervened is expecting a baby in February.