Ava-May jury slams bouncy castle safety
Sam Russell
THE parents of a little girl who died after a bouncy castle exploded spoke of their grief yesterday after an inquest jury criticised the safety management of the attraction.
Ava-May Littleboy, three, was catapulted into the air before landing on her face in the sand.
The inflatable was the first of its kind at the Bounce About beach funfair and the jury found that no procedure was in place to safely manage it being blown up, it had not been checked by a third party and had no instruction manual.
After hearing the narrative verdict Ava-May’s parents called for greater awareness of the dangers of such attractions after the tragedy at Gorleston-onSea, Norfolk, on July 1 2018.
Chloe Littleboy and Nathan Rowe said: “If nothing else comes from this we hope and pray that people see the serious risks these attractions can pose.
“A couple of minutes of fun for a child can end up becoming a parent’s worst nightmare, one from which you can never wake.We do not want to see other parents go through this pain.”
Ava-May died in hospital of a traumatic head injury. The jury returned a narrative conclusion yesterday following an eight-day inquest in Norwich, finding that: “Ava-May’s guardians paid
for the use of a trampoline which exploded, following which she died”.Witnesses said the child was thrown “higher than a house” and appeared to be unconscious before she landed. She was at the beach with her family.
Ava-May’s aunt Abbie Littleboy and her aunt’s friend Beth Jones took her to play on the inflatables.
Abbie heard a loud bang “like someone had set off a cannon” then saw Ava-May “flipping” through the air.
Beth remembered screaming “catch her” and a funfair worker “had her arms fully out to try to catch her, but she couldn’t as it was so quick”.
The inflatable’s owner Curt Johnson claimed he had asked a funfair worker, who was 15 then, to keep an eye on the
Ava-May Littleboy, three, was thrown ‘higher than a house’ when an inflatable castle exploded on a Norfolk beach in 2018. She died from head injuries
bouncy castle as it inflated but the boy denied having anything to do with it. Another funfair worker, who was 17 at the time, had lifted Ava-May onto the play equipment.
The girl said that after she lifted her on she tried to check with Giselle Johnson, director of Johnsons Funfair Ltd, that Ava-May was allowed there but it exploded as she turned away.
Ava-May’s parents, from Lower Somersham in Suffolk, said: “Ava-May was a huge part of our life, in fact she was our life.
“We’ll now never be able to teach her to ride a bike, see her off to high school, bring her friends round for sleepovers and all those other things young parents look forward to.These things have been cruelly taken away from us.”