Devastated family pay tribute to ‘perfect son’
THE devastated parents of a little boy who died after being hit by a vehicle in a hotel car park in Salford Quays have paid tribute to their ‘perfect son.’
Jackson Yates, aged 17 months, was run over at the rear of the Ibis Hotel, off Trafford Road, last Thursday.
His distraught mum and dad Carl and Cheryl Yates say they are still in shock.
Cheryl, 37, had brought Jackson to Manchester to see In the Night Garden Live with other relatives while Carl stayed at home in north Yorkshire.
It was as the group crossed the hotel car park that the toddler was struck by a Toyota Rav-4 in what police say was a tragic accident.
Now back at home in Yarm, where they live with Cheryl’s first son 16-year-old Josh, the shattered family is trying to adjust to life without little Jackson.
“He was cheeky, he was such a character,” Cheryl told our north east sister paper The Gazette. “And he was absolutely fearless. He would go head-first down slides.
“He was so clever - he picked things up so easily. He never stopped, he was always smiling. He was loving as well.
“There’s a group of us that all go to Disneyland every year at the end of November. It’s a Christmas tradition. We’re still going this year and will release some balloons for him.
Carl, 31, added: “He was a little daddy’s boy.
“He was a good little climber as well and he liked characters.
“We went to Comic Con at Kirkleatham. Darth Vader had hold of him, Jackson wasn’t scared of him, he tried to take his mask off.
“You couldn’t ask for a better little baby boy - he was perfect.”
Officers from the Greater Manchester Police Serious Collision Investigation Unit (SCIU) are investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident but GMP believe it was a tragic accident.
“People have been saying I shouldn’t have let him run off,” said Cheryl. “But he hadn’t run off - if he had been running off, he would probably still be here. I do want to thank the police in Manchester they have been amazing.”