Family members watched in horror as a three-year-old girl was ‘thrown higher than a house’ as an inflatable trampoline exploded, an inquest heard today.
Ava-May Littleboy was playing on the trampoline on the beach at Gorleston, Norfolk when it exploded beneath her with a loud bang, ‘like someone had set off a cannon’.
Little Ava-May was thrown into the air before landing on her face in the sand, suffering head injuries. She later died in hospital.
Ava-May’s family told a hearing in Norwich today how a funfair worker had tried to catch the three-year-old, but they were not quick enough.
Her mother Chloe Littleboy said she felt ‘out of control’ and ‘unable to do anything’ as she watched onlookers try to save her daughter.
In an emotional statement, Ava-May’s father Nathan Rowe said his ‘heart is scattered all over that beach.’
Three-year-old Ava-May Littleboy died of a head injury after being thrown from an inflatable trampoline on a beach in Gorleston
Nathan Rowe (left) and Chloe Littleboy arrive for the inquest into the death of their daughter today
The police cordon at Gorleston beach in Norfolk following the tragedy in July 2018
Ava-May was playing on the attraction when it burst on the beach at Gorleston-on-Sea in Norfolk on July 1, 2018.
The three-year-old, from Lower Somersham in Suffolk, was at the beach with her parents Chloe Littleboy, 27, and Nathan Rowe, 36, her grandparents Ian and Angela Littleboy, her maternal aunt Abbie, and family friend Beth Jones.
The family were staying at a nearby holiday park and had bought Ava-May a kite and a bucket and spade that morning before heading to the beach, the inquest heard.
Her aunt Abbie Littleboy and Ms Littleboy’s best friend Beth Jones took her to the inflatables, paying £6 to try six different ones.
Nurse Ms Jones said that while Ava-May was on the inflatable trampoline, she heard a loud bang then saw the three-year-old ‘flipping through the air.’
‘She went up so high, it was higher than my house, about 20ft,’ said Ms Jones.
‘There was a massive thud and Ava came down on her face and tummy. I wasn’t close enough to catch her.’
She said that she remembered ‘screaming ‘catch her” and a funfair worker ‘had her arms fully out to try to catch her, but she couldn’t as it was so quick’.
Abbie Littleboy said that the sides of the inflatable trampoline seemed ‘stiff’, but added: ‘I didn’t take much notice of it – I thought it needed to be like it and that it needed more pressure.
‘I just assumed it was how it was meant to be.’
She said she heard a loud bang ‘like someone had set off a cannon’, then saw Ava-May in the air.
Abbie Littleboy (left), Ava-May Littleboy’s aunt, and her friend Beth Jones arriving at the inquest today
‘She was just flipping,’ she said. ‘I just remember my little niece flipping. Her eyes were closed and she didn’t scream.
‘I remember looking at her little face and I think the force that sent her up had already done something to her. It was like she was asleep.’
Ms Jones tried to resuscitate Ava-May with the help of others on the beach before paramedics arrived.
Ms Littleboy said that another girl of a similar age to Ava-May was on the inflatable trampoline when it exploded.
She said she was told that the other child ‘skimmed across the sand but was okay’.
Ava-May’s mother Chloe Littleboy and father Nathan Rowe were on the beach some distance from the inflatables and Abbie Littleboy ran over to them.
Chloe Littleboy said, in a statement read by the coroner: ‘Although I was screaming I couldn’t actually cry. I just stood there shaking and screaming.’
She described how her daughter had ‘an amazing imagination’ and loved Peppa Pig, McDonald’s and her favourite cuddly toy teddy bear, Mr Ted.
She added: ‘She was a perfect little girl. She was bubbly, never got angry and was always happy.’
She said that her daughter’s death had left her feeling ‘horrible, empty and lost’.
Ava-May’s father Nathan Rowe said in a statement read by the coroner: ‘My heart is scattered all over that beach. I will never go back there as long as I live.’
Jacqueline Lake, Norfolk’s senior coroner, said evidence will be heard about the ‘acquisition of the inflatable trampoline, risk assessments carried out, working practices at Johnson Funfairs Limited and the responsibilities and roles within that business’.
She said: ‘The evidence will not include the reason why the inflatable trampoline exploded.’
The nine-day inquest, which is sitting with a jury, continues.