Pollution near home of tragic girl ‘unlawful’, inquest told
AIR pollution around the home of a girl who died from asthma was consistently at unlawful levels, an inquest heard.
Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, who aspired to be an RAF pilot, lived 25 yards from the congested South Circular road in London. The nine-year-old endured seizures and almost 30 hospital visits in the three years before she suffered a coughing fit and died in hospital in February 2013.
A second inquest opened at Southwark Coroner’s Court yesterday to consider evidence. It heard that both her home and school were inside high-risk air quality zones designated by Lewisham Council, but her family was never warned of the dangers.
David Edwards, Lewisham’s head of public health and air quality, conceded pollution levels were a ‘ public health emergency’ when Ella died and admitted the council had moved at a ‘glacial’ pace to deal with the problem. Mr Edwards said ‘diffusion tubes’ set up to monitor air quality repeatedly recorded unlawful levels of nitrogen dioxide. The limits – set out by an EU directive in 2008 – were passed 18 times in a year.
A first inquest in 2014 found that Ella died of acute respiratory failure possibly triggered by ‘something in the air’. Her mother Rosamund successfully applied to the High Court last year to order a second inquest. The case could make legal history if Ella becomes the first person in the UK to have air pollution listed as a cause of death.
Speaking before the inquest her mother said: ‘It’s been a long hard fight to get this inquest. What I want is justice for Ella and for her to have on her death certificate the true cause of why she died.’ The inquest continues.