Ava-May Littleboy: Beach-death inflatable owner 'had left site'

A boy has challenged a claim he received instructions from the owner of an inflatable trampoline on the day it exploded, killing a three-year-old girl.

Ava-May Littleboy was thrown in the air when the attraction at Gorleston in Norfolk burst on 1 July 2018.

The girl, from Lower Somersham in Suffolk, suffered a fatal head injury.

The teenage boy told her inquest that the owner Curt Johnson had left before any customers arrived.

The boy, called Mr A due to reporting restrictions, gave evidence by Skype to Friday's hearing in Norwich and challenged Mr Johnson's version of events that he had been told to keep an eye on the device as it inflated.

Senior coroner Jacqueline Lake said: "We've heard evidence from Curt [Johnson] that he asked you to keep an eye on the fan onto the trampoline.

"Do you recall that at all?"

Mr A said: "I didn't hear him say that."

He said Mr Johnson had left the site "before any customers came in", adding: "All I remember him saying is 'I'm now going', and that's it."

The boy said he was paid £20 cash in hand for a day's work.

The boy said there "wasn't a set training" and said his training was how to get children on and off the Minions-themed bouncy castle.

Any further training "was more like telling me if I was going wrong", he said.

Mr Johnson said he sent a text message to an under-16 worker overseeing the inflation of the trampoline, telling him he "didn't do as I asked" by not telling his wife, Giselle Johnson, when the device was ready.

Mr A said he remembered seeing Ava-May arrive with her aunt and a friend but handed over to a colleague, as he was unsure of pricing.

The inquest continues.