Ava-May Littleboy: Father of Suffolk girl, 3, killed by beach inflatable on 'soul-destroying' loss

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The father of a three-year-old girl who was killed when a beach inflatable exploded has described the "soul-destroying" grief his family endured in the wake of her death.

Ava-May Littleboy suffered fatal head injuries after being thrown into the air as she played on an inflatable trampoline during a family holiday in Norfolk in July 2018.

Now her father Nathan Rowe is working with local police forces to train their family liaison officers, in the hope of helping others suffering bereavement.

Speaking publicly for the first time about losing his daughter, Mr Rowe said her death had turned the family's life "upside down".

"It was almost like being in a dream: is this actually real? Has this actually just happened?" he said.

"Those sorts of days aren’t supposed to happen. You go to the seaside for a family vacation, to enjoy time with your family and the next thing you know it’s all on its head -your life has been turned upside down by a random moment," he said.

"Then we're driving back and we're a family member down. Our little girl never came back with us. It was just absolutely soul-destroying."

The family, from Somersham in Suffolk, had been staying at a caravan park in Gorleston on the Norfolk coast and took a day trip to the beach, where Ava-May began to play on an inflatable trampoline which was part of a temporary funfair.

Witnesses described hearing a loud bang and seeing the girl thrown into the air. A lifeguard and paramedics fought to save her, and she was taken to the James Paget Hospital but died from her injuries.

An inquest in March 2020 found the funfair ride had been inspected by an independent company just four days before the accident - and was found to be unsafe to use.

But because the trampoline was not registered with an official testing scheme, no record was made of those concerns - and no action taken to stop it being used.

The family's grieving process has been exacerbated by the pain of reliving events at her inquest, which was delayed because of coronavirus. There has been no criminal prosecution.

But harder, they said, was the knowledge they would never see her grow up.

“It’s a realisation that it’s actually happening, and things are progressing that you can never get back," said Mr Rowe.

“You go on holiday, you go down the street, you see things on TV, you see families enjoying their lives and think 'I can’t have that anymore, my daughter’s been taken away from me'."

Support from family and friends has been key to getting through the darkest times, he said.

"At three years old, you shouldn't be burying your child. You should be enjoying their life," he said.

"I found myself, more often than not, at the bottom of a bottle. At one point I was found at the bottom of the garden, in absolute darkness, just listening to music... blind drunk."

Mr Rowe said he had since managed to progress, slowly but surely. "The right people have been there to listen, hold my hand, be that shoulder to cry on," he added.

“She was just a happy-go-lucky little girl, she loved to play, she was starting to become her own little girl," said Mr Rowe. "We’d have conversations about the kind of woman she’d be.

"She was very bright for her age, she was loved by all her family, she’d just started pre-school, so meeting new people, finding out what she can and can’t get away with."

Since Ava's death, Mr Rowe and Ava-May's mother Chloe Littleboy have been supported by family liaison officers from Norfolk and Suffolk police forces.

Mr Rowe has now begun working with them to help other families who have lost loved ones.

Detective Inspector Karl Nightingale, family liaison lead for the forces, said: "We've run a number of family liaison officer courses now where Nathan has come in and delivered the input and without fail it is the most significant and best received input on the whole course because you cannot replicate what Nathan delivers.

"It's incredible strength and resilience. He wants to deliver something positive out of what he's been through."

Mr Rowe said he and his partner encounter constant reminders of their little girl, but believe it is important to share their experiences to help others.

"It is those little things. You see people walk down the road with a little girl. You go to the shop and you hear another family say 'Ava, come here.' And you think 'I miss saying that'.

"If I can share my experience with other people to aid their lives, then it's worth talking about - so I try not to hide from it and shy away from it.

“I don’t want to hide from it: Ava was a massive part of our lives, so when people ask 'how are you doing?' or 'do you miss her?', I tell them exactly how I feel: I miss her every day."

• If you've been affected by the issues in this article, you can call the Samaritans 24 hours a day, seven days a week on 116 123 or visit www.samaritans.org