Ava-May Littleboy: Worker 'tried to catch girl when inflatable burst'

A funfair worker tried to catch a three-year-old girl who was thrown in the air when an inflatable exploded, her inquest has heard.

Ava-May Littleboy was playing on the inflatable trampoline on the beach at Gorleston-on-Sea in Norfolk on 1 July 2018.

A friend of Ava-May's aunt said the toddler "went up so high, it was higher than my house, about 20ft (6m)".

The inquest heard Ava-May suffered a head injury and died in hospital.

Ava-May, from Lower Somersham in Suffolk, was at the beach with her family when her aunt Abbie Littleboy and Ms Littleboy's best friend Beth Jones took her to the inflatables.

Ms Jones told the inquest she heard a loud bang then saw Ava-May flipping through the air.

"There was a massive thud and Ava came down on her face and tummy," she said.

She said 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".

Ms Littleboy said the sides of the 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."

Ava-May's mother, Chloe Littleboy, said in a statement read before the court: "Although I was screaming I couldn't actually cry. I just stood there shaking and screaming."

Norfolk's senior coroner Jacqueline Lake said that during the course of the nine-day inquest, evidence would be heard about the "acquisition of the inflatable trampoline, risk assessments carried out, working practices at Johnsons Funfair Limited and the responsibilities and roles within that business".

"The evidence will not include the reason why the inflatable trampoline exploded," she added.

The inquest continues.