By Ashlea Hickin Sophie Robinson PA
A teaching assistant mistook a five-year-old boy’s fatal allergic reaction for a stomach bug after he was sick at school, an inquest heard on Tuesday (July 1).
The jury at Peterborough Town Hall was told that Benedict Blythe stayed at home due to illness on the day before the incident, where he vomited twice and collapsed at Barnack Primary School in Cambridgeshire on December 1, 2021.
Benedict, who had joined Mensa at four years old, suffered from allergies to milk, eggs, and some nuts as well as having asthma. He died in hospital on the same day, with the inquest hearing that his death was caused by food-induced anaphylaxis.
Benedict had been absent from school the previous day as he felt unwell overnight and had vomited. However, he appeared “in good health” on the day of his death, and had been excited about his advent calendar filled with dairy-free chocolate, the inquest heard.
Sophie Brown, his teaching assistant at the time, said Benedict would often be sick. She asked him after he vomited for the first time that day to see if it might have been an allergic reaction.
She told the inquest: “When I said ‘are you feeling OK?’ he said ‘good’. He said ‘no’ to his mouth being tingling, there was nothing on his body that showed any hives.”
Ms Brown, who had first aid training and was aware of the boy’s allergies, said that Benedict changed his clothes before he was sick again approximately 10 minutes afterwards.
She told the jury about the time between his first and second instance of vomiting: “He was happy, he was giggling, he made a few comments about the book we were reading.”
In her testimony to the inquest, Ms Brown said: “He was off the day before so I assumed it was a bug.” She told the inquest that she didn’t know at the time the reason why he had not attended school the previous day.
The court was informed that the school stored milk for pupils in two different fridges, one dedicated to dairy milk and the other for non-dairy options. Benedict had his own bottle at school.
Ms Brown said she couldn’t recollect who offered the oat milk to Benedict that morning, which he did not drink, but confirmed that it wasn’t her who did so.
The teaching assistant told the jury that she couldn’t remember if Benedict had asked for his inhaler after vomiting.
Previously, the inquest learned from Benedict’s mother, Helen Blythe, that vomiting was “always” indicative of his allergic reactions, and the school had been given a management plan outlining his typical symptoms.
Following Benedict’s collapse, the court heard that his adrenaline auto-injector (AAI) was used twice. He subsequently became unresponsive and was taken to Peterborough City Hospital, where he died.
The inquiry into the incident was adjourned until Wednesday morning (July 2).