Girl hanged on flawed slide

A three-year-old girl died after being "hanged" as a result of a design flaw on a garden slide, an inquest was told yesterday.

The hearing was held as Newcastle Council prepares to prosecute John Menzies UK Ltd, the parent company of the Early Learning Centre from whom the slide was bought. The inquest, which returned a verdict of accidental death, heard that Amy Grieveson's head became jammed in the gap between the slide's chute and the support strut connecting it to the ladder as she played outside her home in Newcastle upon Tyne in April. The slide was withdrawn from sale after Amy's death and the firm developed a modification kit to cover the gap.