Boy died after large mirror fell on him in store, inquest hears
The incident was captured on CCTV, with Freddie Farrow seen to enter the lingerie section of the store with his mother
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Your support makes all the difference.A five-year-old boy died after he appeared to touch a mirror in a department store while looking at his own reflection and it fell on him, an inquest has heard.
Freddie Farrow appeared to use “very little force” and an Essex Police detective formed the view that the mirror “must have been very near or on its balance point”, the hearing in Chelmsford was told.
The mirror, which was 8ft 6in (2.6m) high and nearly 2ft (0.6m) wide, toppled on to Freddie at the Fenwick store in Colchester, Essex, on July 27 2021, according to a police report.
It was estimated to weigh between 132lb and 176lb (60kg-80kg), Temporary Detective Chief Inspector Michael Pannell told the inquest.
The officer, who went through a report prepared by his colleague, Detective Inspector Fred Tomkins, who was unable to attend the inquest, said police were called to the scene by the ambulance service at 11.32am.
“The initial report was that a large mirror had fallen on a child,” said Mr Pannell, adding that the youngster was “unconscious”.
He said the boy was initially taken to Colchester Hospital and then transferred to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, where he died on August 2 2021.
Mr Pannell said the report’s author, Mr Tomkins, gave the dimensions of the mirror, which was in the store’s lingerie department.
He also estimated its weight, noting that the glass was broken and there was a “considerable amount of blood on the floor”.
He said there was a metal bracket on the wall and a metal bracket on the mirror, and a wooden part of the bracket was in pieces.
Mr Pannell, reading from the report written by Mr Tomkins, said: “It was my view that this part of the bracket between the two metal brackets had effectively come apart, leaving it freestanding and leaning against the wall.”
The officer said the incident was captured on CCTV, with Freddie seen to enter the lingerie section of the store with his mother and her friend.
“Freddie appears to touch the mirror, looking at his own reflection,” said Mr Pannell.
“The mirror appears to shimmer before moving forwards.”
Mr Tomkins’ report said “very little force was used by Freddie, and my view is the mirror must have been very near or on its balance point”.
Essex Senior Coroner Lincoln Brookes said the “distressing” CCTV footage would not be played as part of the inquest.
He told the jurors a “large mirror attached to a column fell over on top of him (Freddie), causing very serious head injuries”.
Mr Pannell said the mirror hit Freddie on the “top and back of his head”.
The inquest heard that he suffered a “catastrophic brain injury”.
Mr Pannell said Freddie “doesn’t really apply any force to the mirror which weighs a significant amount, then (the mirror) leans forward and hits him”.
Alison Chapman, who was a health and safety officer for Colchester City Council at the time of the incident, said she was told the mirrors were fitted in a major refurbishment of the store in 2015-16.
She said the mirrors had a manufacturer’s guarantee for five years, but the mirrors would have been “subject to wear and tear” from cleaning and from customers.
Ms Chapman said there was “no planned preventative maintenance”.
She said that following the incident other mirrors in the store were inspected, and it was observed that there was “deformation of the upper fixing box” of nine out of 14 mirrors.
Freddie’s mother, Natasha Ingham, who attended the hearing with other family members, described her son as “cheeky and funny and clever”.
Reading a pen portrait, she said: “He was always smiling which was like a ray of sunshine.”
His father, Andrew Farrow, who was not at the hearing, said in a statement read by the coroner’s officer, that it “feels like part of our world is missing”.
The inquest, estimated to last four to five days, continues.