Inquest: Tidworth boy Jakob Fairclough died after falling on scooter

Jakob Fairclough died in a car park on St Andrew’s Road, Tidworth on August 18, 2023. An inquest was heard on July 3 into his death.

Jakob's mother Rebecca Fairclough described him as a “popular boy” who had “lots of friends”.

In a statement, she said: "Jakob was a popular boy with lots of friends. He had been out with his dad [Warren] in the day and been his normal cheeky-chappy self.

'[He] loved his brother and sister, liked to go the skatepark, playing on his Xbox and football, [he] spent a lot of time at the skatepark, had lots of friends who played there of different ages, [he was] fairly confident on his scooter."

The inquest heard that on the evening of his death, he had been to Tidworth skate park with his friends. A witness said that he went to leave the skate park as his parents called him and said he had to go home.

As he left, Jakob waved goodbye to his friends with his right hand, whilst still holding onto the handlebar of his scooter with his left hand. He was also braking, and his back wheel slipped, causing him to fall and land on the handlebars, which had end caps missing.

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A friend carried Jakob over to the car park from the footpath and paramedics arrived on scene at 7.45pm but he had become unresponsive. 

A memorial left at Tidworth skate park (Image: Newsquest)

A statement from South Western Ambulance said that he was moved into the ambulance, where he became tachycardic, with his heart beating over 100bpm.

It added: "There was a small golf ball sized bruise on his chest - thought to be from the scooter."

At around 9pm, Jakob died at the scene. The post-mortem, read by area coroner Ian Singleton, said the blue and black scooter’s handle bars were in working order. At 22 millimetres in diameter, the handles were fitted with grips but the end caps were missing so the middle was exposed.

A golf ball sized bruise was found on his right-side torso, as well as a laceration between his eighth and ninth ribs which was consistent with the impact to his right side from the handle.

His death was ruled as an accident due to blunt force trauma to his torso, with Mr Singleton offering his 'deepest condolences' to Jakob's parents.