Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I’d swap places with my Harriet in a heartbeat..
Mum’s agony after girl killed in rockfall
A MUM has told a coroner of her ongoing nightmare after her nineyear-old girl was crushed by a 2ft rock during a trip to the seaside.
Holly Forster, 47, and her daughter Harriet had been rock-pooling under cliffs when stones began to fall.
They tried to flee but were hit by rubble, killing Harriet, an inquest heard.
Holly said in a letter to the coroner: “I’m still haunted day and night by the horrors of Harriet’s death.
“The sight and sounds of that day are never far from my mind.
“Being without Harriet, who was the light of my life, causes me pain that I suspect I’ll never recover from. I would swap places with her in a heartbeat.”
Harriet had been excited and testing a new waterproof camera at the popular rock pools in fishing village Staithes, North Yorks, on August 8. The coroner was told the public were allowed to walk beneath the cliffs, despite 55,000 rockfalls involving 3,000 tonnes of rubble in the area in the past two years.
Only one small sign nearby warns, “Beware, dangerous cliffs”, the inquest heard. Holly, from Weston-on-the-green, Oxford, had not seen it as the pair set off.
The mum was carrying a rucksack on her back, and a bucket and spade.
Holly, who has PTSD, said in a statement read by coroner Michael Oakley: “I heard a scattering noise of small pebbles falling. We were more than 10ft from the edge of the cliff when I heard that. I looked up and saw different-size stones falling, and one larger bit of rock was 2ft by a bit less than 2ft. There was time enough to say, ‘Big rock, big rock’.
“We both set off running and Harriet was running towards the sea. I felt rocks hit me, one landed on my head and one landed on my back and hit the rucksack, and it felt like it knocked me forward.”
Holly said she may have blacked out for a “short time”. She went on: “I heard a big rock hit and saw a big cloud of dust. I could see Harriet in front of me.
“Harriet was in a cleft in the rock, with her head towards the cliffs and her feet towards the sea.”
The mum described scrambling to get to her and pulling her from the cleft.
She said: “Her head fell back, she was a dead weight. I saw blood from her right ear. Her hair was streaked with blood. Her eyes were rolled back. Her lips were going blue.
“I called out for help and started chest compressions.” An off-duty police officer and an off-duty paramedic helped do
There was time to say, ‘Big rock, big rock’, we both set off running MUM HOLLY FORSTER RECALLS BEACH HORROR
CPR before air ambulance medics took over. But Harriet was declared dead on the beach, Scarborough town hall heard. She died from “overwhelming multiple injuries” to her head, chest and abdomen.
Scarborough borough council engineer John Woodhead said “nothing had been done” since to prevent people walking beneath the cliffs.
Mr Oakley recommended extra signs and a barrier was considered.
He also agreed with the family’s request to move stairs to the rock pool. He added: “It clearly is simply a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Verdict: accidental death.