Teacher tells inquest about sudden collapse of Barnack Primary School pupil Benedict Blythe
A pupil who suffered a severe allergic reaction collapsed suddenly while talking about Christmas, his teacher has told an inquest jury.
Benedict Blythe had been sick twice on the morning he fell ill but, according to school staff, he showed no clear signs of the food-induced anaphylaxis that would cause his death in hospital later that day.
Class teacher Jenny Brass was called to give evidence at the inquest hearing in Peterborough Town Hall today (Friday, July 4).
She now teaches in the United Arab Emirates but on December 1, 2021, the day of Benedict’s death, she was his the reception teacher at Barnack Primary School, having gained her teaching qualification two years earlier.
Miss Brass described five-year-old Benedict as “the smartest kid in my class” and said he had exhibited normal behaviour until morning break time, “laughing and joining in” during an early phonics lesson.
After coming in from the playground, Benedict was sitting in his designated ‘carpet space’ with classmates when he vomited without warning. A teaching assistant cleaned him up, took him to a table and read him a book, which she recalled he chatted about.
In her evidence, Miss Brass described him as looking “a little unwell and sorry for himself” and said she had noticed he had some redness above his lips.
When he was sick for a second time, Miss Brass took Benedict outside and sat with him on chairs located just outside the classroom door.
“He was chatting about his advent calendar when he suddenly went grey and floppy,” she said.
Miss Brass told the jury one of his two adrenaline auto-injector pens was administered “within two to three minutes” and a second “five to 10 minutes afterwards”, by which time CPR was being given by a teaching assistant.
Miss Brass recalled that before Benedict became poorly, she had poured his oat milk into his lidded cup in the staff room before giving it to him in the classroom.
The oat milk was supplied by Benedict’s parents, Helen and Pete Blythe, who live in Stamford, because their son had experienced severe allergic and anaphylactic reactions to cows’ milk in the past, a fact known by school staff.
Miss Brass remembered that having been handed the cup, Benedict said he did not want to drink the oat milk, and was allowed to take it to the classroom sink, where he poured it away.
Asked if she watched Benedict do this, Miss Brass said she did not and could not rule out him having drunk from his cup on the way to the sink.
Accounts have varied at the inquest about whether Benedict drank from the cup, with school staff evidence saying he had not, and police body camera footage capturing Miss Brass telling an officer “he didn’t really touch much of the milk”.
Miss Brass described differences between a carton containing another reception class child’s lactose-free milk, which contained dairy allergens, and Benedict’s oat milk. These included the cartons’ size, shape and colour, and that both were labelled with the children’s names.
The presence of allergens in a biscuit eaten by Benedict during morning break was ruled out following earlier evidence from McVitie’s.
Miss Brass, who said she has experienced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of what had happened, said she has continued teaching because of how important school was to Benedict.
“Benedict is still in my thoughts,” she said, adding that she believes greater support needs to be in place for teaching staff who experience similar tragedies.
Professor Alan Fletcher, a consultant in emergency medicine at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals and a clinician for 33 years, gave evidence that concluded the first week of the two-week hearing.
He explained that the onset of severe allergic reaction and anaphylaxis can be extremely rapid, describing it as “an exponential change” with the body’s response becoming “a cascade” within 60 seconds to “a small number of minutes”.
He said the point Benedict became “pale and floppy”, while sitting outside with his teacher, would have been when his body was overwhelmed and his blood stopped circulating.
At this point, he said, the use of an adrenaline auto-injector into his thigh muscle would not have worked because Benedict would no longer have blood flow to his muscle.
Professor Fletcher said: “The point that it would have worked was, on the balance of probabilities, the point he was conscious and breathing and at the point he went floppy it would not have worked.
“Children’s circulation falls off a cliff in cardiac arrest. It happens rapidly. In seconds.”
Professor Fletcher explained that once Benedict’s heart had stopped, CPR rescue breaths and chest compressions could help keep oxygenated blood moving to his vital organs until specialist help arrived, but the only antidote to the anaphylaxis would be oxygen, intravenous fluid and intravenous adrenaline, which would need to be administered in hospital and within 10 minutes of collapse.
“Basic life support on its own will not work,” he said.
Continuing to address the issue of when an adrenaline auto-injector should be used, he said: “Vomiting is a non-specific symptom in children. Redness of lips is very non-specific to me, from a clinical perspective.
“It is not the same as airways swelling, which would prompt the administration of adrenaline.”
During the inquest hearing, which began on Monday and is due to continue until Friday next week (July 11), the jury has heard evidence from Benedict’s parents, members of school staff and allergy and asthma specialists.
On Monday a representative from the Department for Education is due to give evidence.
The purpose of the inquest is to publicly investigate the circumstances surrounding Benedict’s death and how he died, but not to apportion blame.
