Pearl’s dad in emotional speech at bike tribute

MORE than 50 motorcyclists took part in a memorial ride out to remember a oneyear-old girl who died when a wall collapsed after a car rolled down a driveway.

Riders set off from Merthyr Tydfil yesterday morning to help raise money for the family of Pearl Melody Black.

Pearl’s dad, tattoo artist Paul Black, attended the ride and gave an emotional speech before the group set off towards the Owl’s Nest diner in Llandovery.

Paul, who appeared on TV talent show The Voice, said before the ride out: “It’s because of people like you that you have to keep going. I can’t thank you enough. There are no words.”

Pearl died in August after a Range Rover rolled across a road and demolished a wall which fell on to her at an address in Heolgerrig, Merthyr Tydfil.

Keen biker and friend of the family Wesley Beynon organised the event with his partner Marrie Prosser and friends Paul Davies and Luke Chambers, the uncle of Mia Chambers who is battling an aggressive form of cancer. The group raised more than £600 yesterday and estimate the final total will be higher, with all funds going to the Pearl’s family.

Marrie, 39, from Merthyr Tydfil, said: “I had to walk away when Paul started speaking. I’m not an emotional person normally, but when he started talking it was just overwhelming. There was not a dry eye there.

“Not everyone knew that Paul was even coming, so when he turned up everyone just stopped and it went silent.”

The group held a minute’s silence when they reached the Owl’s Nest at around 11.30am followed by a “rev-up” of their engines to “keep the spirit of Pearl alive”, according to Marrie.

Dad-of-five Wesley, from Merthyr Tydfil, who has known Pearl’s dad for around three years, said: “It was a very emotional event. It was a good turnout despite the weather, and we helped raise a lot of money.”

An inquest into Pearl’s death heard that the automatic transmission of the Range Rover, which was on a driveway in Beechwood Drive in the village, was believed to be in park at the time.

Coroner’s officer Gareth Heatley said: “The vehicle had been left parked insecure with the automatic transmission in park and the handbrake fully applied.

“As the vehicle gained momentum down the driveway it has travelled across the road and on to the footpath opposite, demolishing the boundary wall. That same wall has collapsed. Tragically it fell on to one-year-old Pearl who has been walking on the footpath, causing crush injuries, I am told.”

The court heard paramedics attended and Pearl was airlifted to Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil, where she died a short time later.

The cause of death has yet to be established and coroner Andrew Barkley adjourned the inquest to October 4.