A primary school in Croydon has been fined £35,000 after a young boy was left with critical burns when his nativity costume caught fire during the school’s annual carol concert.
St Thomas Becket Catholic Primary School was found guilty of health and safety failings by a jury at Southwark Crown Court earlier in June.
In December 2019 the boy, then aged seven, had been in a line of pupils each holding a lit candle in Our Lady of the Annunciation Church in Bingham Road, Croydon, when his homemade sheep costume caught fire, the court heard.
The fire was extinguished “with some difficulty” and the child received first aid at the scene before he was taken by air ambulance to hospital.
At hospital it was estimated that he sustained burns on 45% of his body, resulting in “life-changing injuries” that will leave him dependent on third party care for basic needs.
Judge Philip Bartle fined the state school £35,000 for breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 – more specifically for failing to properly assess the risk involved and failing to take reasonably practical steps to minimise or eliminate the risk.
The judge also ordered that the school should pay £25,970 in prosecution costs and that victim compensation should be dealt with by the civil courts.
In two impact statements read out in court, the child’s parents described the “excruciating” pain that their son, who no longer attends the school, has been through and is still going through.
They both commented on the life-threatening nature of their son’s injuries, with the mother saying she “thought the worst” when the boy was in hospital and his father saying he is “lucky to be alive”.
The court heard they were waiting for their son to emerge in the church when people started running outside and screaming, which the father described as feeling like “a bomb had gone off”.
The mother said her son’s best friend said he was on fire, prompting her to “force” her way back into the church.
Both parents found their son standing “screaming” in a bucket of water in the church, the court heard.
His father said the image has been “tattooed” in his mind.
The court heard how the young boy underwent “countless” surgeries and hospital appointments, which are continuing three years later.
“I protect my son from every look from a stranger when we are out together,” the father said. “I walk in front of him to protect him from the glares of others. I think of him growing older in such a cruel world.
“It overwhelms me to think that my son will never know what a normal life is.”
The mother said a school should be a “trusted place” for parents and children and would never expect her child’s school to “expose him to life-threatening danger like this”.
“I haven’t stepped in a church since and I don’t think I ever will,” she said.
Judge Bartle said of the boy’s parents: “Their love for (their son) and their dedication to his welfare shine out from all they say.
“I acknowledge the selfless devoted care that they have given to him.”
In defence of the school, the court heard that the board of governors apologises to the family, that the school has a good health and safety record and that it has banned the use of candles.
Following the incident the London Fire Brigade issued a warning against the “completely unnecessary hazard” of candles when it comes to children and school plays, and said LED or electric candles should be used.
Health and Safety Executive inspector Sarah Whittle said: “This was a shocking and scary incident that could have so easily been avoided.
“Common sense alone should have been enough to see the risk.
“Mitigation in this case would have been the substitution of wax candles for flameless ones, thereby reducing the risk to zero.
“This was a step the school took after the incident, but by then it was far too late for a young child who will be forever affected by this.
“The importance of a suitable and sufficient risk assessment has never been made so clear.”
