This is the horrific moment a five-year-old boy is knocked off his feet after being struck on the head by a cricket ball that flew over a grammar school fence.
Harry Butt was left with a severe concussion, a swollen nose and eye, plus sight and hearing problems after the ball whizzed over the wire fence from a match being played at the Poole Grammar School in Dorset on Thursday.
His mother Michelle said residents had been complaining for years about the balls hitting cars, conservatories and ending up on roofs, and said action should have been taken long before a child was hurt.
Michelle is now demanding for something to be done before another person is seriously injured, but the school reportedly told her it couldn’t raise the height of the fence for health and safety reasons.
Harry Butt, five, was left with a severe concussion, a swollen nose and eye, plus sight and hearing problems after the ball whizzed over the fence from a match being played at the Poole Grammar School in Dorset on Thursday
His mother Michelle said: ‘We took him to A&E and we were admitted to hospital. He was violently sick, had really bad concussion and the consultant said if it had hit him anywhere else, he wouldn’t be here – it hit him on the forehead, on the side’
Michelle, who lives in Canford Heath, Dorset, had taken Harry and her 12-year-old twin girls to visit her friend Sarah Bryant. They were on the driveway saying goodbye when the ball whistled past Michelle’s ear and struck Harry.
Michelle said: ‘It sounded like a bomb had gone off – my little boy was on the floor. We were all in shock – he was dazed.
‘We took him to A&E and we were admitted to hospital. He was violently sick, had really bad concussion and the consultant said if it had hit him anywhere else, he wouldn’t be here – it hit him on the forehead, on the side.’
Harry, who attends Ad Astra Infant School, was discharged on Friday morning, with Michelle under strict instructions to keep a close eye on him for the next fortnight and to return to hospital if she was worried.
She has already been back once as the little boy now has two black eyes, cannot breathe through his nose as it is so swollen, and is now having trouble hearing.
She added: ‘We are on day five and he’s not himself, he’s crying every night. My sister has got brain damage and Harry might still suffer from bad headaches.
‘I’m still in shock – I still hear the noise. It’s just awful and I want something done.
‘I just feel really upset that they’ve been told about the balls going over and nothing has been done. I know that you can have netting around the pitches.
‘It’s also about the safety of the students at the school – obviously it’s not big enough to play a game of cricket, because the balls keep coming over the fence.
‘I just think the way it’s been dealt with is not professional and it should have been done before.’
Harry, who attends Ad Astra Infant School, was discharged on Friday morning, with Michelle under strict instructions to keep a close eye on him for the next fortnight and to return to hospital if she was worried
Michelle has already been back once as the little boy now has two black eyes, cannot breathe through his nose as it is so swollen, and is now having trouble hearing
The ball had been driven by a tailender batsmen from the visitors Milton Abbey School, a private school near Blandford.
The boundary between Poole Grammar School and Hasler Road is about 25ft in height and is made up of of a row of conifer trees with wire fencing above them.
It is thought the ball went through a gap in the trees.
One of the two umpires for the game, which was drawing to a close at the time, was Dan Crutchley, the head of PE at Poole Grammar. He was on the scene very soon after Harry was hit.
Andy Baker, the headteacher of Poole Grammar School, said the school regretted the incident.
He said: ‘It was a very unfortunate, one-off accident. We very much regret the injury to the little lad and the stress caused to his family.
Mr Baker said he was aware there had been previous complaints about cricket balls going over the boundary fence but that none had been received during his four-and-a-half years at the school.
He said the suggestion of safety netting being installed above the boundary fence had been looked into before but the school had been advised that the local authority wouldn’t grant planning permission.
He added: ‘I am also not sure how safe it would be with the wind we get here.’
‘What we are going to do for senior matches where the boys and that much bigger and stronger, we will use another pitch that is further from the boundary. We can’t rick this happening again.’
Michelle added: ‘We are on day five and he’s not himself, he’s crying every night. My sister has got brain damage and Harry might still suffer from bad headaches’
Although Poole Grammar School reportedly told Michelle it wouldn’t raise the height of the fence, the school said it would move future cricket matches to an alternative field
Michelle’s friend, Mrs Bryant, 34, said she had made numerous complaints to the school about cricket balls flying over the fence and hitting her home and neighbouring properties.
She claimed she had warned the school it was ‘only a matter of time’ before someone was hurt.
She said: ‘We’ve told the school time and time again about cricket balls coming over the fence.
‘We warned them that someone could get hurt if nothing was done and it was only a matter of time.
‘Harry could have been killed if the ball had hit him anywhere else on the head. Things could have been so much worse.
‘Clearly the fence isn’t high enough but the school just doesn’t seem to be taking the issue seriously.’
Councillor Ray Tindle, who represents Canford Heath said he and fellow ward councillor, Sean Gabriel, would be looking to work with both local residents and the school to find a solution and prevent such an incident taking place again.
He added: ‘The school has got to face up to the fact that this is an issue and something has to be done.’