Happy Birthday Sammy

Happy Birthday Sammy Today is Sammy’s 14th birthday but he is not here to celebrate it. I’ve been speaking with his mum, Patricia, and this morning I spoke to his sisters and promised that I would share about Sammy so more people know of him. They fear he’ll be forgotten. Sammy was born on Friday […]

Who was Jared Botham?

Jared was his mum, Vicky’s, first born, arriving into this world on Sunday 20 February 1994. Vicky was a young mum, only 19, but so excited for what the future held. She described Jared as a perfect baby, he didn’t cry a lot, he slept and he fed well, but at his 6 month check-up […]

What is the point of inquests? Performing prevention?

This question from Liz this morning has resulted in my finishing this blog, I’ve less rage than yesterday and was going to leave it but I’ve so many half finished posts I decided to crack on or it might never see the light of day. Liz’s question is the ultimate one, and one I ask […]

When is neglect not neglect?

Still angry, I know its not healthy and if my lovely ma were still alive she’d be imploring me to shut my laptop and do something to relax. I tried this afternoon after posting my last three blogs, honest I did, but I managed to balls up my knitting and lose the plot of what […]

Natural Causes

I told myself I’d take the weekend off, to decompress, spend time away from a screen, try and release some of the anger and tension that is searing through every sinew of my body. Couple hours into the weekend and I’ve given in to the rage and am sat banging away at my keyboard. I […]

Family statement: Thomas Rawnsley’s inquest

Thomas was a beautiful, loving, compassionate and most of all mischievous little boy. He enjoyed spending time with his family and was loved like only a youngest brother to three big sisters can be. Thomas was a very much loved son, brother and uncle. Thomas had Down Syndrome and by the time he was a […]

Who was Thomas Rawnsley?

This blog post was originally shared as a twitter thread here. I’ve duplicated it here for ease of anyone reading other posts on my blog and to ensure who Thomas was is captured somewhere other than twitter. I’ve also edited some of the tenses given this was written after Thomas’s inquest had concluded. Gather round, […]

Making a difference #GettingToKnowGaia #GaiasGuide

Today we reach Day 12, and the last in this series of posts that mark the time that Gaia was missing in 2017. I sincerely hope that through these posts you have developed some understanding of who Gaia was, if like me you never had the chance to meet her, or that they’ve reminded you […]

Hated injustice #GettingToKnowGaia

This is the penultimate post in the #GettingToKnowGaia series. Another characteristic, personality trait if you like, that everyone was unanimous about was that Gaia hated injustice. She didn’t just hate it, but she had to speak out about it. Kim recalled on Day 6 how Gaia was sensitive and caring, maternal towards her friends and […]

Artistic and musical #GettingToKnowGaia

There are only a couple more blog posts to come in the Getting To Know Gaia series, and I hope you’re all feeling like you know Gaia a little. This is a short one. I was discussing childhood with Maya, Gaia’s twin, and she told me that Gaia loved watching documentaries and loved biology at […]