Heartbroken parents fight for change in the law
ALL Paul and Gemma Black wanted was justice for their beautiful little girl Pearl. But they’ve been left with none.
And the cruel heartbreak the couple suffered when their daughter was taken from them in the most tragic of circumstances has left them broken once more.
A year-long investigation involving the police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has found noone can be held criminally accountable for Pearl’s death – on an archaic point of law.
Their daughter died on August 6, 2017, after a Range Rover rolled across a road and demolished a wall which fell onto her in Heolgerrig, Merthyr Tydfil.
All they have wanted is answers – the truth as to why their oneyear-old daughter died and who was responsible.
Now, Paul, 50, and Gemma, 38, have spoken at length about how they feel about the owner of the car Andrew Williams and how the birth of their baby daughter has brought some much-needed joy into their lives.
At home in Merthyr, the couple are surrounded by a gallery of pictures of Pearl.
They said they can’t help the way they feel about the Range Rover’s owner Mr Williams. The couple say they have received no contact from him before now, and there has been no apology.
The Blacks came face-to-face with Mr Williams for the first time at the inquest into Pearl’s death on Thursday. Paul sat near Mr Williams in the court room. Gemma was at court but couldn’t bring herself to sit through the hearing.
Asked if he wanted to confront Mr Williams, Paul said: “I was too composed. It was just not worth it. It was not worth me breaking my composure. I would have let my family down if I had shouted at him.”
The couple now have to focus on their children – 20-month-old Ace and 12-week-old daughter Beatrix.
They are, for now, at least blissfully unaware of what their parents have been through. In later years they will come to know everything about their sister Pearl, whose nickname was Swirls, and the anguish her death has caused their parents.
“The best thing that has come about through all this is the birth of our new baby Beatrix, which was a remarkable turn of events and has brought us an abundance of happiness,” said Paul.
“However, it will never, ever stop or take away what has happened to us. Nothing at all ever, no amount of money, no amount of smiles from our two beautiful children will ever take away the horror Reporter
that we have been through.”
For Gemma it was important that they tried for a baby.
“It was important for us to have another child. It was for me. It stopped me from falling into a big black hole, because I had to look after myself,” she said. “I had to make sure I was healthy and not distraught all the time, because I had a baby growing inside me.
“We had to be Ace’s parents when I didn’t want to get out of bed in the morning.”
A little over a week after Beatrix’s birth, on August 6, it was the first anniversary of Pearl’s death. September 28 would have been her third birthday.
Former singer Paul said he replays the moment Pearl was hit by the wall over and over in his mind every day. As a result he has been diagnosed with severe posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“People see me walking down the street and they think I am confident because of this exterior and bravado, but I am absolutely crumbling inside,” he said.
“I defy any man living to see what I’ve seen. No man will see their child getting crushed to death in front of them. No man has seen what I’ve seen.”
He was forced to relive the tragic circumstances leading to his daughter’s death at the inquest last week and at one point could not bear to say the words out loud.
In his heartbreaking evidence he recounted the events leading up to the tragedy, and detailed the extraordinary lengths he went to in a bid to save his two children, Pearl and Ace.
He told the court how, when the vehicle careered towards him building up speed, he threw Ace into the road and tried to step in front of Pearl, but wasn’t quick enough to throw her as well.
He told how he was so angry he started to smash up the Range Rover.
In the 14 months since that day, Gemma said she still can’t bear to visit the scene where it happened near to her mother-in-law’s house.
Paul said the hope that there would be justice for his beautiful little girl was one of the things keeping him going.
But they said they were “devastated” when they were told there would be no criminal prosecution against the Range Rover’s owner Mr Williams.
“We were distraught when the police told us,” said Paul.
The inquest at Pontypridd Coroner’s Court ruled that Pearl’s death was an accident. The police investigation found the car wasn’t secure with the handbrake on the empty Range Rover not “sufficiently applied”.
The couple have now asked their solicitor to ask the CPS to review their decision not to prosecute. Gemma and Paul are now campaigning for a change to the law, which they say has prevented a charge being brought.
Paul is also planning to walk from Merthyr Tydfil to the Houses of Parliament in memory of Pearl.
In a statement, the CPS has said: “The CPS carried out a thorough review of the evidence and concluded the case failed to meet the evidential test for prosecution. We have explained the reasons behind this decision to Pearl’s family and our thoughts remain with them.”
The Western Mail tried to contact Mr Williams for comment but he did not respond to our request.