A grieving mother has spoken for the first time since her ex-partner was cleared of killing their three-year-old son by reversing over him in a defective farm vehicle.
Toddler Albie Speakman suffered catastrophic injuries after his father reversed a telehandler into him at the family farm in Tottington, Greater Manchester, on July 16, 2022.
This month, Neil Speakman, 39, sobbed in the dock as the jury foreman read the not guilty verdict for gross negligence manslaughter.
Now Albie’s heartbroken mother Leah Bridge, 31, has described her unimaginable pain at the tragedy.
‘It feels like I’ve stood still in time and I don’t go anywhere. I don’t move forward in my mind,’ she told Manchester Evening News.
‘Was he scared?’ I don’t know because I wasn’t there.’
Ms Bridge revealed she has since welcomed another son, named Ebon, but said her joy has been dampened by heartache as she initially struggled to look at her baby – fearing he would look like Albie.
‘I didn’t look at him for ages,’ the mother said. ‘I didn’t know what he was going to look like… if he was going to look like Albie.’
Grieving mother Leah Bridge, 31, stands next to the grave of her three-year-old son
Toddler Albie Speakman, who died aged three, with his mother Ms Bridge
Neil Speakman, pictured with his partner Millie Barrick, at Minshull Street Crown Court
Ebon, who Ms Bridge had with her partner, was given the middle name Albie in memory of his brother.
Speakman sobbed in the dock last week as the jury foreman read the not guilty verdict after five hours’ deliberations.
As the verdict was read, the father turned to his girlfriend Millie Barrack – who he began a relationship with after splitting from Albie’s mother – and said ‘I told you’.
Although tearful, Speakman – wearing a tweed suit and a shirt and tie – also appeared to perform a double fist-pump while still sat in the dock.
But despite being cleared of manslaughter, the farmer could still be jailed for health and safety offences.
Bridge has described her unimaginable pain at the tragedy of losing her little boy
Speakman pleaded guilty to breaching a section of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 at an earlier hearing, admitting having ‘[failed] to ensure the health and safety of Albie, so far as is reasonably practical’.
The maximum sentence for offences under the legislation is two years’ imprisonment.
During the two-week trial at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court, jurors heard the collision happened in a yard next to a small garden area at the front of the farmhouse.
A few minutes earlier the father had left Albie to play with their two pet dogs, jurors were told.
While Mr Speakman had used the Kramer telehandler before, he was not officially trained on the machine and it had various defects, including a missing wing mirror.
