Boy, one, died after concrete wall fell on him while visiting granddad’s lambs

A 17-month-old boy died after a concrete wall collapsed onto him while he was visiting lambs on his grandfather’s land, an inquest heard.

Roan Robbie Butcher was taken to the family property in Mildenhall, Suffolk, in April last year to see the animals.

The young boy was placed inside one of the pens which had small concrete walls around 3 ft high, Suffolk Coroner’s Court heard.

As his father Zach Butcher stepped inside the pen himself, the wall became dislodged and collapsed on top of Roan causing catastrophic brain injury.

Mr Butcher ran back home with Roan before emergency services were called, but Roan went into cardiac arrest on the way to hospital, East Anglican Daily Times.

Medics said he had suffered an ‘irreversible’ head injury and died at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.

The inquest heard Roan enjoyed seeing the lambs and would often visit them with his father.

Peter Stickley, a former Health and Safety Executive inspector, said the wall’s structure was likely compromised because there was no gate attached.

This meant a just a small amount of force could cause it to fall down.

But Mr Stickley pointed out those without a good understanding of construction would not know this could lead to the wall collapsing.

He said: ‘You wouldn’t know the wall would fail until you applied the right force at the right location.

‘You might rock the wall at the top and think, that’s not sturdy – but you would only know that at the very last minute.’

Coroner Darren Stewart concluded that Roan died as the result of an accident.

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