Tragedy as Huddersfield toddler is crushed by reversing van

Little 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 under the wheels of a white Transit van.

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

In a statement read out in court, Poppy’s mother 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 that 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.”

Coroner Ratcliffe, recording a cause of death as severe head injuries, added: “Poppy was clearly a healthy and happy child who did not always do as she was

told.

“She was probably mature for her age. She was certainly capable of understanding any instructions but she was equally capable of deciding that there was something distracting her attention.

“I find no responsibility or blame to anyone involved in this incident at all.

“Her injuries were clearly so severe that for a little girl like her they weren’t survivable.”