Boy sues over bouncy castle kick

A boy who was kicked in the head on a bouncy castle at a party is suing the parents who hired the inflatable.

Sam Harris, 13, now of Spalding, Lincs, had a broken skull and was left brain damaged after the accident in 2005.

He claims Catherine and Timothy Perry, who hired the inflatable for their triplets' 10th birthday party on a playing field in Medway, are to blame.

Mr and Mrs Perry have denied liability at the High Court, blaming the boy's father, David Harris.

Brain injury

The couple, of Jersey Road, Strood, have brought Mr Harris into the proceedings as a third party.

Sam suffered a depressed skull fracture and "serious and traumatic brain injury" after a taller 15-year-old caught the side of his head with a heel while they somersaulted.

His counsel, Susan Rodway QC, told the High Court in London that Sam went on the castle after football training, which his father organised in the playing field on Saturdays.

Constant supervision by a responsible person was required under the hire contract, and as a matter of common sense, but Mrs Perry had her back turned at the time, she said.

'Only adult'

One issue in the trial on liability is whether Sam was given permission to get on the castle.

Sam, now of Long Lane, Gedney Hill, who brought the action through his mother, Janet Harris, claims his father could not give permission because it was a private party, but that Mrs Perry did.

Mrs Perry claims said she forbade him, and shouted "no".

Miss Rodway said Mrs Perry "was the only adult" and should have been watching "at all times".

She said collisions and injuries were "eminently foreseeable" if things got out of hand, and anything to do with somersaults should have been stopped "immediately".

Mr Harris, who also lives in Jersey Road, said he had told Sam and a friend that they could not go on the bouncy castle.

He said that when he went over to give his son first aid, it was "very shocking".

Mrs Perry said the other boy involved in the accident, Samuel Pring, was a "gentle giant", a pleasant and polite boy she did not consider was responsible.

She said she had met the victim's mother but denied Mrs Harris had told her Sam had Asperger syndrome.

The hearing was adjourned until Wednesday.