Boy, 5, collapsed and died hours after drinking milk at school as cops slammed for shocking failings

His Dad recalled the horror of finding his son unconscious on the floor
A SCHOOLBOY collapsed and died hours after drinking milk at schools with police slammed for shocking failings in their investigation.

Benedict Blythe, 5, who was in his first year at Barnack Primary School in Stamford, Lincolnshire, tragically died after accidental exposure to cow’s milk.

The youngster tragically died from food-induced anaphylaxis on December 1, 2021.

A jury inquest into Benedict’s death in July found the school hadn’t followed all measures in place to prevent the fatal anaphylactic reaction.

And a Prevention of Future deaths report published this week highlighted their concerns with the police investigation that took place thereafter.

Benedict had asthma and several allergies, including eggs, nuts, kiwi fruit and milk and his parents had worked with his school to put together an allergy action plan in case of a reaction.

On that fatal day, Benedict returned to the classroom after his morning break time where he was offered a drink that ought to have been his oat milk.

The school was responsible for keeping the oat milk in a fridge in the school staff room which was labelled with his name before pouring it for him in the classroom and handing it directly to him.

However, the inquest found that on the day of his death, that process was not followed because his milk had been poured in the staff room rather than the classroom.

The jury also found there were risks of contamination and delays in administering the adrenaline pen.

His parents were called to pick him up after he vomited and later “collapsed”.

He was rushed back into the classroom after he vomited for a second time

Benedict was rushed to Peterborough City Hospital but tragically couldn’t be saved and died later that day.

The Prevention of Future Deaths report published on Tuesday revealed the police didn’t collect samples of his vomit in their investigation afterwards.

This, they said, would have helped doctors identify the cause of Benedict’s reaction at an earlier stage.

This is why initial investigations into his death focused on how he had eaten a McVitie’s biscuit – it was later revealed this was not the biscuit but exposure to cow’s milk that Benedict reacted to.

Dad Peter Blythe previously recalled the horror of finding his son unconscious on the floor with staff frantically trying to revive him.

“Benedict was dying in front of us and I could not believe what was happening,” Peter said during a previous inquest hearing.

Two adrenaline pens were administered after Benedict collapsed who wasn’t responding and had stopped breathing.

The retired RAF senior aircraftsman immediately began CPR but struggled to clear mucus blocking Benedict’s airway.

Benedict’s mother Helen got there just two minutes later, at the same time as an air ambulance.

Helen told the inquest jury that vomiting was “always” the first symptom of his allergic reactions, but “how it played out after that varied”.

She said the youngster was “well aware” of his allergic reactions and had woken up “as normal and in good health” that morning after being kept home from school the day before as he was sick.

The foreperson of the jury at Peterborough Town Hall in July said: “We deem the probable source of the allergen that caused the fatal anaphylaxis is the ingestion of cow’s milk protein, most probably from his own receptacle during break time.”

The inquest jury also found contributing factors to the reception pupil’s death included a delay in administering his adrenaline.

They also concluded there was potential for cross-contamination of milks and not all staff were aware of Benedict’s allergy plan.

In August, Benedict’s sister and five other primary school students delivered a petition to Downing Street.

It called on the government to implement Benedict’s Law across the country to end the “postcode lottery” of allergy safeguards in schools.

Etta and friends joined other children affected by allergies to stand in front of No 10 and knocked on the door to hand over the petition signed by more than 13,000 people.