Barnaby’s death was ‘accidental’ says Coroner

AN inquest into the death of four-year-old Barnaby Cork of Thame, has concluded that his death was accidental.

The inquest held this morning heard how Barnaby died after being hit by his father’s reversing car in the car park at Thame Leisure Centre on December 10, 2016.

The father, Stephan Cork, had just dropped off his wife Ella and their two other children for swimming lessons when the accident happened.

Although Barnaby’s family did not attend the inquest, Mr Cork had submitted written evidence in which he said that he had neither seen or heard his son, as he – Barnaby – was shorter than the back window.

The plan had been to take Barnaby to choose a Christmas tree after dropping the rest of the family off at the Leisure Centre, but Barnaby then changed his mind and said he wanted to go swimming instead. After Mr and Mrs Cork changed their arrangements so that Barnaby could go, Stefan got back into the car and started to reverse. Ella then walked around the front of the car and saw only two siblings on the pavement. She then asked where Barnaby was and one of the siblings pointed towards the road where Barnaby was lying.

Barnaby suffered serious head injuries and went into cardiac arrest on his way to the John Radcliffe hospital, after several attempts to help resuscitate him. He was pronounced dead later at the hospital.

The inquest heard that Mr Cork had told PC Victoria Jones that he did not hear his parking sensor and further evidence from Forensic Collision Investigator, PC James Henderson, showed that Barnaby would have been too short to spot from the rear window of the car.

Coroner, Darren Salter, concluded that the incident was an accident, and determined the cause of death to be head injuries, concluding: “The sad facts are not in dispute. I offer my condolences under these awful circumstances to the parents and family.”

Since the boy’s death, Mr Cork has set up set up an online fundraising page to raise money for the Thames Valley Air Ambulance, which so far has raised over £30,000.