Kaden Reddick: Topshop queue barrier death was accident Published duration 10 March

image copyright Family picture image caption Kaden Reddick's mother said his death had "left a massive hole in our lives"

A 10-year-old boy who was killed by a falling queue barrier at a Topshop store died accidentally, a coroner has said.

Kaden Reddick, from Reading, suffered a fatal head injury when it fell on him at the town's Oracle shopping centre on 13 February 2017.

A jury at Reading Town Hall recorded a narrative conclusion.

The court was told Kaden, from Burghfield, had been to the cinema with his two siblings and mother before going to the store during the half-term holidays.

Witness Niamh Gillespie described seeing him with his arms across the top of the MDF barrier, which doubled as a display unit.

Kaden's swinging caused the barrier to tip and fall on to his head, jurors heard.

He was confirmed dead at the Royal Berkshire Hospital a short time later.

image copyright PA Media image caption Kaden was fatally injured at Topshop in the Oracle shopping centre in Reading

The inquest heard there had been two previous incidents, in Manchester in 2015 and in Glasgow, in which customers had been injured by falling Topshop barriers.

Following the second in February 2017, a week before Kaden's death, the company asked managers to check their barriers did not "wobble".

Reading branch manager Martin Tull responded "no" but later said he "didn't test the barriers for movement in any way", the inquest heard.

The MDF barrier was fixed to a concrete floor by four screws, the hearing was told.

Coroner Alison McCormick said the death had been accidental.

She told the boy's family: "Kaden's death has touched all of us in this court but for you, as you've said, [it] has left an enormous hole in your lives, a void that can never be filled."

Barristers told the hearing the case may result in criminal proceedings.