Youth died after Burger King fall

A BRIGHT young man from Valence School in Westham who suffered from a severe form of brittle bone disease died from medical complications after an accident at Burger King in Hellingly, an inquest heard.

Aaron Ridley was born with a serious congenital disorder which meant his bones would break very easily under minimal pressure. The 15-year-old, who was only 3ft 10in in height, was wheelchair-bound and had suffered more than 200 fractures in his lifetime.

He and his classmates from Valence School a residential school which caters for more than 100 physically disabled children were on their way to watch stock car racing at Arlington on the evening of July 18 when they stopped at the Boship roundabout in Hellingly for something to eat.

At Tuesday s inquest into Aaron s death, the coroner and the jury heard evidence from one of the school s key workers, Melanie Rogers. 'We all got out of the minibus and went over to the Burger King, she said. 'Aaron happened to be the first one through the door.

'Some pupils were like him, in electric wheelchairs, and others were being pushed. I was holding the inner door open. Then I heard Aaron calling for help. I went to him to find him on the floor with the wheelchair on top of him. Aaron, who controlled his joystick-operated wheelchair independently, had entered Burger King and accidentally driven down a small step in the restaurant s floor, which tipped the teenager onto the tiled floor, fracturing bones including his right arm and left leg.

The mobile phone that he was given last Christmas and which he was apparently very fond of was with him at the time of the tragic accident. 'The phone was ringing before he fell down the step, said Mrs Rogers. 'I heard it ringing, and it was still going after he fell. Some other pupils and the manager of the restaurant saw Aaron using the phone before his accident. Quickly, an ambulance was called and the badly injured boy was taken to Eastbourne hospital.

'It appeared that he had some broken bones and nothing more, said Dr Christopher Moffat, who treated Aaron at the hospital. 'His heart rate went up quite dramatically and he was quite sweaty and clammy he seemed generally unwell. Two days later Aaron was transferred to an intensive care unit at Guys Hospital in London. He was suffering from a rare bone fracture complication known as fat embolism, which blocks the path of blood to major organs. He died on July 28 ten days after his accident.

'He was brilliant academically, said Aaron s mother, Julie Edwards. 'He loved going out with his friends, just like a normal boy. He knew his limitations, and basically led a normal life.

Coroner Alan Craze asked the inquest jury to decide upon the most important factor in Aaron s death, be it the fall (accident) or the illness (natural causes). The eight-person panel returned a verdict of accidental death, and asked that details of the mobile phone be omitted from the summary.