Bouncy castle death pair jailed for three years
Image copyright Family photoTwo fairground workers convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence after a bouncy castle blew away with a young girl inside have been jailed.
Summer Grant, seven, died after the inflatable was carried 300m across a park in Harlow, Essex, in March 2016.
William Thurston, 29, and his wife Shelby, 26, from Cambridgeshire, failed to ensure it was "adequately anchored" to the ground, a trial heard.
The pair were each sentenced to three years at Chelmsford Crown Court.
Mr Justice Garnham told the couple, of Whitecross Road, Wilburton, that they "took the most monumental risk with children's lives by continuing to allow children on the bouncy castle...and that risk-taking cost Summer her life".
He also called on the Health and Safety Executive to take the steps necessary to make it compulsory for fairground operators to have proper wind speed measuring equipment.
Summer, who died of "multiple traumatic injuries to the head, neck and chest", had been visiting the Easter fair at Harlow Town Park with her father Lee and other relatives.
She was inside the Circus Superdome attraction when it was blown away from its moorings and sent "cartwheeling" down a hill before hitting a tree.
The court heard Summer only had "a few minutes" left of her turn but Shelby Thurston decided to "let them finish their go" before taking the inflatable down.
Reading a victim impact statement in court, Summer's mother Cara Blackie described how she screamed when she heard of her daughter's death.
Unable to continue reading her statement, Ms Blackie sat down as prosecutor Tracy Ayling QC continued on her behalf.
It read: "I never thought that my Summer playing and having fun on the bouncy castle would end her young life."
Ms Blackie described how before Summer's funeral, she painted her daughter's nails blue - her favourite colour - and put her glittery shoes in the coffin - the ones that Summer wanted to wear on her first night out.
The court heard that since her daughter's death, Ms Blackie has suffered from anxiety and depression.
The Thurstons were also sentenced to a further 12 months' imprisonment for a health and safety offence, which is to run concurrently.
