Tragedy as four-year-old boy dies riding mini motorbike

17.06.2022 - 14:27 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk

A four-year-old boy died after losing control and crashing a mini motorbike belonging to his seven-year-old cousin into a metal pole. The accident occurred when Lennox Railton-Craggs jumped on the front of the new bike and pulled a lever causing it to accelerate.

The youngster began to come off the vehicle and hit a pole in the ground near his home in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, an inquest into his death heard. The hearing, sitting at Durham and Darlington Coroner's Court, heard how his father chased after the children's motorbike, picked Lennox up and took him to his home on Elliott Terrace.

His son cried for his mother, before turning 'a different colour' and collapsing. The inquest, at the Civic Centre in Crook, County Durham, heard how his family gave him CPR until paramedics attended the scene. Lennox was rushed to the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) in Newcastle where he sadly died on January 23, 2022.

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Detective Inspector Leanne Green, from Durham Constabulary, told the court how she had investigated Lennox's death. She said: "Lennox is described as a little boy who loved motorbikes and quad bikes and had been riding quad bikes with family safely the day before."

Det Insp Green said Lennox returned home from his grandmother's home and saw another youngster learning to ride her new Yamaha mini motorbike. She told the inquest: "It just looks like a mini motorbike but it's made for children so it's quite small. Her father was supervising her, she was learning how to ride the bike."

She said: "Both parents and [the other youngster] describes him as being very excited to see the motorbike and initially asking if he could have