Summer Grant’s father tells of daughter’s death after inflatable blew away with her in it

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The father of a young girl who died after a bouncy castle was blown across a park with her inside it has told a court how he desperately chased after the bouncy castle.



Summer Grant, seven, had been enjoying a family day out at Harlow Town park in Essex when the bouncy castle was blown 300m down a hill, the hearing was told.

Witnesses described seeing the bouncy castle “cartwheeling in the air, cartwheeling down a hill and only stopping when it hit a fence”, said the prosecution.

Fairground worker William Thurston, 29, and his wife, Shelby Thurston, 26 – who are accused of failing to adequately anchor the bouncy castle – both deny manslaughter by gross negligence and a health and safety offence.

Summer’s father, Lee Grant, told Chelmsford crown court on Tuesday that he was at the fair on 26 March 2016 with his mother, sister, Summer and his other daughter, Lily, who was five years old at the time.

Recounting what happened after Summer went on to one of two bouncy castles – known as a circus super dome inflatable – Grant said that he had heard his mother scream “no” and within seconds it had blown away.

“I just saw some sort of cable flying in the air and it just blew away. I remember it blowing over some sort of caravan and kept on going over the field,” he said.

“I started running after the bouncy castle down the field. It was 30 to 50ft in the air and just rolling down the field, just rolling and rolling.



“I think it hit a tree. At the end of the field, it came to a halt when it hit the fence. I couldn’t find her. I couldn’t find the entrance to the bouncy castle as it had deflated by the time it reached the end.”

Grant said he saw someone go into the bouncy castle to bring Summer out. His daughter was taken to hospital, where she died.

The two defendants, of Wilburton, near Ely, Cambridgeshire, sat side by side in the dock as the prosecution’s case was opened on Tuesday by Tracy Ayling QC.

Ayling said a yellow weather warning was in place on 24 March 2016 and was still in place two days later, the day of the incident.

Storm Katie, the eleventh storm of the season, was expected to arrive by Easter Monday, added Ayling, who cited a meteorologist as saying that the highest gusts during the afternoon had reached 35 to 40mph.

“The weather was cold and windy. Summer was playing in a bouncy castle that was one of the fair’s attractions run by these two defendants,” she said. “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.”

Ayling said that William Thurston was among those who chased the bouncy castle as it blew away and, when he went to help Summer, it appeared “she was very badly injured and struggling to breathe”.

“It’s the Crown’s case that they breached the duty of care they owed to Summer Grant by failing to ensure that the bouncy castle, called a circus super dome inflatable, was adequately anchored to the ground and failed to monitor weather conditions to ensure it was safe to use,” Ayling said.

Summer’s parents, who live in Norwich, paid tribute at the time to their daughter, describing her as their “beautiful angel”.



In a statement released through Essex police, her father said: “She was the most happy, polite and beautiful girl in the world. I still can’t come to terms she’s not here.”

The trial continues.

