Balloons released for tragic little boy

Police are investigating the death of Blake Norie, who was released from Sheffield Children’s Hospital with a “clean bill of health” after being kicked in the playground at school shortly before he died.

The foundation stage pupil at Meynell Primary School in Sheffield was found dead at his father Nathan Hibert’s home in the suburb of Lowedges, lying at the bottom of the stairs with no broken bones or obvious cuts and bruises.

On Saturday, a week since the schoolboy’s death, his friends, family and local children gathered at Lowedges Park, where Blake enjoyed playing Pooh sticks, to release balloons in memory of the “happy, go-lucky” five-year-old.

The balloon launch was timed to coincide with other launches in Grimsby, Cambridge, Stoke, Devon and Middlesbrough, where other members of Blake’s family live.

Meanwhile, the circumstances surrounding Blake’s death remain a mystery. A “typical little boy” who loved Ben 10 and Thomas the Tank Engine, he was the only child of Kelly Norie, 22.

Blake’s grandfather Stuart Norie, 44, said the child’s death had come “completely out of the blue”.

He said: “Blake was a happy-go-lucky, mischievous little imp. Ever so happy, ever so cheerful.

“We haven’t come across one person who didn’t fall in love with him. He’d smile and they’d melt.

“He had a lot of friends at school and even his nursery teachers loved him.”

He added: “Now we just have to wait for the tests to come back. Nobody’s got any idea whatsoever what might have happened to him.”

Blake’s funeral will be held on Tuesday, August 9, at City Road Chapel in Sheffield.