Ava-May Littleboy, from Suffolk, could ‘light up even the darkest of rooms’, her family say

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Tributes have been paid to a three-year-old girl who died when she was thrown from a seaside inflatable trampoline in Norfolk at the weekend.

Ava-May Littleboy, from Suffolk, could “light up even the darkest of rooms” with her “infectious laugh and smile”, her family said in a statement.

Robert Halfon – the Conservative MP for Harlow, Essex, where Summer Grant, seven, was killed when a bouncy castle blew away in 2016 – is calling for a temporary ban on inflatables following the incident.

Ava-May was visiting Gorleston-on-Sea on the Norfolk coast with her mother on Sunday morning when the tragedy happened.

Witnesses reported hearing a “loud bang” before the inflatable apparently burst and Ava-May was thrown into the air just after 11am. She later died at James Paget hospital in Gorleston.

In a statement issued by Norfolk Constabulary, her family said Ava-May “was not your ordinary little girl.”.

“Anyone that met her would not want to forget her,” the statement continued. “Her infectious laugh and smile could light up even the darkest of rooms.”

A crowdfunding page set up to raise £1,500 for a commemorative bench for Ava-May in her local park in Somersham, Suffolk, had reached over £6,000 on Tuesday morning, exceeding its target by 402%.

A joint investigation between the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), local authority and police has been launched, and a Home Office postmortem examination was due to take place on Monday afternoon to determine the cause of Ava-May’s death.

On Sunday, Tory backbencher Halfon said he wanted politicians to consider imposing a temporary ban on inflatables in public spaces in light of the incident.

His request for an urgent question in the House of Commons was denied. Halfon said he was disappointed but would table a Commons motion about it.

Downing Street described the incident as a “terrible accident and a tragic loss of life”.

The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “HSE are looking into it, they are the right people to do so. We need to wait for that investigation to be completed.”

Supt Roger Wiltshire, of Norfolk police, said the incident was “just unimaginable”.

“I’m a dad myself and you just can’t imagine what they would be going through,” he said.

He said the attraction was licensed, and the local authority was conducting checks on others.

Ava-May’s family are being supported by specialist officers.

In June this year, two fairground workers were jailed for three years for the “entirely preventable” death of Summer Grant, who was killed after a gust of wind lifted an inflatable from its moorings and sent it cartwheeling 300 metres down a hill at an Easter fair in Harlow in March 2016.

William Thurston, 29, and his wife, Shelby Thurston, 26, were found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence following a trial at Chelmsford crown court.