(Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney)
(Lab):...I should like to give some background to the new clause.
In August 2017, a 22-month-old child, Pearl Melody Black from
Merthyr Tydfil, was tragically killed when walking with her
father and brother. Pearl was killed by an unoccupied vehicle
that rolled from a private drive in Merthyr Tydfil on to the
highway and down a hill before crashing into a wall that
subsequently crushed Pearl and injured her father and brother. In
the months after the incident, officers from the serious
collision unit of South Wales
Police worked tirelessly to put a case together to
provide justice for the family. In short, all tests concluded
that the car was mechanically sound and that it had rolled
because the handbrake was not fully engaged and the automatic
transmission was not fully placed into “park” mode...
...The inquest into Pearl's death was heard in October 2018, and
the outcome was that it had been an accident. However, with the
support of South Wales
Police and the CPS, Pearl's parents have sought to
change the law—and they continue to do so—so that other families
are not in a similar situation of not being able to secure
justice due to a legal loophole following such a tragic and
completely preventable incident. As Gemma and Paul Black
acknowledge, as the legislation would not be retrospective, it
would not help to bring justice for Pearl, but preventing anyone
else from suffering such an injustice might provide some
comfort...
