The parents of a boy electrocuted in a deathtrap pub garden are fighting for tougher laws.
As families flock to pubs over the half term, Danielle Jones wants changes to ensure the tragedy that killed her son Harvey, seven, never happens again.
Her petition for Harvey Tyrrell’s Law, making pubs show electrical works have been inspected annually, has already gained nearly 50,000 signatures as well as the backing of local MPs.
Danielle, 32, said: “We want to bring about change as part of Harvey’s legacy so no other family loses their child down the pub.
"After Harvey’s death I felt so angry and from the amount of evidence we have collected we wonder how many other pubs could be deathtraps.”
Harvey was fatally shocked by a defective light as he sat on a low wall and touched a metal railing at the King Harold pub in Romford, Essex, in 2018.
The pub’s electrics had not been safety checked since 2009.
Harvey had been supervised in the garden by a member of Danielle’s family and a first aider from the pub performed CPR.
Danielle and Lewis Tyrrell, 41, went with their son in an ambulance but an hour later doctors said there was nothing they could do for him.
Danielle said: “I became hysterical and Lewis was sick. How could our little boy who had been happily playing in a pub garden less than two hours before, now be dead? It broke my heart I wasn’t there when he got hurt. Our grief was overwhelming.”
Last month at Snaresbrook crown court, pub landlord David Bearman, 73, admitted manslaughter and stealing tens of thousands of pounds worth of electricity and was jailed for nine years.
His brother-in-law Colin Naylor, 74, who installed the faulty lights, was acquitted of gross negligence manslaughter, was jailed for a year for failing to discharge a duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act.
Judge Martyn Zeidman QC described the pub as a “disgrace” and “a timebomb waiting to go off.”
The court heard the pub had 12 extreme electrical defects and a £12 earthing bar in a fuse box would have spared Harvey’s life.
Bearman had been warned about electrical installations in the 2009 inspection but there were no follow-up checks to ensure the defects had been fixed.
Therapist Danielle, of Harold Wood, Essex, who gave birth to son Jaxon 15 months ago, said: “This must change.
“Every pub should have to provide yearly certification that the electrical works have been tested and inspected.
“Otherwise they should be fined and their landlord insurance and licence made void.”
On Friday Romford MP, Andrew Rosindell, raised an early day motion in Parliament calling for the Government to back the proposed law.
He said no assessment to see if pubs are following what they’re meant to be doing is a loophole that needs closing.
Heartbroken Danielle added: “Our precious boy lost his life because Dave was greedy and had put money before customers’ safety.
"And Colin had done a shoddy job.”
To sign the petition visit www.change.org/Harveytyrrellcampaign
