Summer Grant: Two fairground workers convicted over death of girl, 7, while playing on bouncy castle

Tributes: Summer Grant died after the bouncy castle she was playing on was blown away
Essex Police
Tom Powell9 May 2018
WEST END FINAL

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Two fairground workers have been found guilty of gross negligence manslaughter after a seven-year-old girl was killed after being swept away when wind caught a bouncy castle.

Summer Grant died in hospital after she was rescued from the inflatable at an Easter fair in Harlow, Essex, on Easter Saturday in 2016.

William Thurston, 29, and his wife Shelby, 26, both denied manslaughter by gross negligence but were found guilty by majority verdicts of ten to two at Chelmsford Crown Court on Wednesday after more than 11 hours of deliberations.

The couple, of Whitecross Road, Wilburton, near Ely, Cambridgeshire, were also found guilty of a health and safety offence following the incident on March 26, 2016.

There were gasps and sobs from relatives of the defendants as the verdicts were read out.

Summer's mother Cara Blackie appeared tearful as she left the courtroom before the hearing had finished, while her father Lee Grant remained in the room.

Shelby and William Thurston were found guilty at Chelmsford Crown Court
PA

Prosecutors had told the jury the defendants failed to ensure that the bouncy castle was adequately anchored to the ground and failed to monitor weather conditions to ensure it was safe to use.

Judge Mr Justice Garnham, delaying sentencing until a later date, said he would be "seriously considering imprisonment".

Mrs Thurston left the courtroom in tears, while Mr Thurston cried as he hugged a family member.

During the trial, Tracy Ayling QC, prosecuting, said it had been a "cold and windy" day at the fun fair.

She said: "Summer was playing in a bouncy castle that was one of the fair's attractions run by these two defendants.

"While Summer was in the bouncy castle, it blew away from its moorings, bounced 300 metres down a hill; having hit a tree, it came to rest."

Her father chased after the inflatable attraction at Harlow Town Park while screaming, "my daughter's in there".

"He turned and saw that the dome inflatable had lifted into the air, appeared to hit a caravan before flipping over," Ms Ayling told the court.

Additional reporting by Press Association.

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