Death of toddler hit by van was ‘tragic accident’ rules coroner

Poppy Boothroyd had been told to wait outside on the path while her mum’s friend, who was looking after her, nipped back to the house.

But to her horror, when she looked back, the 20-month-old was beneath the wheels of a white Transit van.

At an inquest in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, yesterday, Coroner Tim Ratcliffe recorded a verdict of accidental death, ruling van driver Steven Weir would not have been able to see the tot due to her tiny size.

And in a statement read out in court, Poppy’s mum Melissa McKay told a devastated Mr Weir, who wept through the hearing: “Our hearts go out to the driver.

“We do not wish him any malice.

“What happened on that day was an awful accident. We hope he can get over what happened and move on with his life.”

The court heard that on January 9 this year, Jessica McDonagh was babysitting Poppy when she decided she was going to take her to a local park on the way back from visiting a shop.

The inquest heard Miss McDonagh went outside with Poppy onto the path in front of the house. She told her to “stay there” while she went back to see where her mum was – but looked back to see Poppy lying under the wheels of the van which had been parked outside the house.

“I don’t know what happened,” she said in a statement read out to the court. “I only looked away for a short period of time.

“I feel so guilty about what’s happened.”

Mr Weir told the court he had been at neighbour Lynn Richardson’s house fixing her telephone line. Once he finished, he went out to his van, logged the job 
as finished and started up the 
van.

He told the court he looked in both his side mirrors and saw nothing.

Because the road was a cul-de-sac in a horseshoe shape and he was blocked in by other cars, he needed to turn his van – which had no window in the back – to be able to exit the road. “I was driving no more than five miles per hour,” he said. “The next thing I knew, someone was banging on my van.” Sobbing, he added: “I didn’t know what had happened. But then I looked round – and I saw the little girl lying on the road.”

The court heard how trained first aider, the neighbour Mrs Richardson, a carer, performed CPR on Poppy until paramedics arrived at the scene in Huddersfield, but sadly it was too late.

She told the court: “The driver was facing some aggression by people in the street. He had his hands over his face and was just saying ‘I’m so, so sorry, I’m so sorry’. I had to gather myself together. I looked to the sky and thought ‘Right, it’s time to start helping Poppy’. I did chest compressions until the ambulance arrived, which seemed forever.”

Collisions investigator Robert Eyre told the court: “The view immediately behind the van was clearly blocked, making a blind spot.

“Even if a child had been down the side, towards the back of the van, there’s a significant area where the child couldn’t be seen.”

Melissa, who is now pregnant, described her daughter in a statement as “fearless”, saying: “She was very mischievous, very bubbly. She was a monkey.

“If you took your eye off her for a minute she would be in a drawer somewhere. If she fell she wouldn’t cry, she would just pick up her dummy and get up.

“She got so many bumps and scrapes, nothing ever worried her, she was fearless.”

Coroner Ratcliffe, recording a cause of death as severe head injuries, added: “I find no responsibility or blame to anyone involved in this incident at all.”