Inquest opened into 'kind-souled' Benedict (5) who died following severe allergic reaction at Peterborough school
An inquest has been officially opened into the death of a ‘quick-minded’ and ‘kind souled’ five-year-old from Peterborough, who died following a severe allergic reaction at his school.
On Monday morning (June 30) an inquest was officially opened at Peterborough Town Hall into the death of Benedict Blythe.
Benedict died on December 1, 2021, from a food induced anaphylaxis after suffered a severe allergic reaction at Barnack Primary School before being transported to Peterborough City Hospital, where he later died.
Benedict lived in Barnack with him mother Helen, father Peter and little sister Etta (6) who was just two years old at the time of his death.
The inquest opened with an emotional statement from Helen, in which she described Benedict as a ‘quick minded’ and ‘kind souled’ and had a love of playing with numbers that saw him join Mensa at the age of just four.
She also told the inquest how the family has been touched to receive messages from others about Benedict after he passed.
She said: “It was after he died that we realised how much he cared for others – messages from parents of his friends told stories of the time he’d help a child who was struggling on the balance beam or where he spent a lunchtime hunting down a child’s lost scooter.
"The first return to a new school year after his death, children said ‘I wish Benedict was here – he’d stop me feeling nervous.’
“When he was asked to identify his superpower, he said it was when he could help his little sister to open the door because she couldn’t reach. His superpower was his kind heart, and it’s that kindness that is so missing from our lives. He adored his sister.
“Aside from the joy Benedict had in his life, he had to develop his own quiet kind of bravery. He lived with allergies and chronic asthma, and sometimes that meant missing out — on parties, on snacks other children could eat, on ice creams from the ice cream van but he never let it define him.
“The day Benedict died, our world broke. But what’s even more unbearable is the knowledge that we weren’t alone. Benedict was not just a child with allergies, he was a whole universe – curious, funny, kind and loving – and the world should have been safer for him.”
Following this, the jury was played a video of Benedict and his sister excited to open their advent calendars on the morning of Benedict’s death.
Benedict suffered from asthma as well as a number of serious allergies including egg, milk, dairy, sesame, chickpea and most nuts.
For this reason, Benedict’s parents produced an allergies and asthma management plan to share with his nursery and later school. At the beginning of each week, Benedict would bring in a large container of calcium-enriched oat milk, which he could drink safely at school during snack time.
Benedict had only started at school in September 2021 before his death on December.
He suffered with a phlegmy cough on November 29 and vomited twice overnight, leading to his parents keeping him off school the following day.
On December 1, Benedict returned to school with no temperature or cough. That morning he had eaten his first chocolate from his specially prepared wooden advent calendar which his parents had filled with anti-allergen chocolate as well as a small amount of freeform cereal with a ‘splash’ of his calcium-enriched oat milk on them.’
At snack time, Benedict was offered a Nairn ginger bread biscuit he had brought in, as well the oat milk stored at the school. He declined the milk and poured it away.
He then vomited and the school called his parents. While waiting, he sat reading a book before vomiting again and being taken outside. There he collapsed.
Staff initially have him two shots from his Adrenaline Auto-Injector to no response before CPR was given by staff, his father Peter, who had arrived and finally ambulance staff.
He was rushed to PCH but doctors could not save him.
The inquest has been called to ascertain the cause of Benedict’s death and assess the actions of Barnack Primary School as well as the North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust in relation to his death as well as in terms of their own policies.
The inquest is scheduled to last for two weeks and conclude on July 11.