The parents of a girl killed in a tragic fairground accident have pleaded for Wickford inspector Barry Ramsey to remain suspended from work.

Helen and Rob Rowe's 12-year-old daughter Stacey, from Truro, Cornwall, was thrown off the Top Spin ride at a travelling fair in May.

Mr Ramsey, whose company Inspection and Testing is based in Wickford, is forbidden from carrying out safety checks pending a probe by his own industry as well as the police.

He approved the ride in Redruth, Cornwall and another in Shepherd's Bush, London, on which two people died. He has appealed for the ban to be lifted.

Mrs Rowe said: "Until these incidents are investigated properly the suspension has to remain. I don't think it would be right for him to be working at the moment."

Mrs Rowe also said the had not been kept updated about the ongoing investigations into Mr Ramsey.

She said: "We are getting quite distressed and have not been told anything - we are completely in the dark.

"It is taking a lot longer than we expected but, hopefully, they will find out what happened."

Stacey visited the Anderton and Rowland fairground in Cornwall with a group of friends.

The Top Spin ride at the centre of investigations carries a line of riders to a height of about 30 feet before spining their seats until they are suspended upside down.

Stacey slipped from her seat, hit the ground and died of multiple injuries at nearby Treliske hospital. Her parents were at her bedside.

Mrs Rowe said that if her other children, Martin, seven, and Megan, two, wanted to go to a fair now she would be very afraid.

She added: "We would like to see some sort of public inquiry. That would provide answers, not just for us, but for other parents across the country. It could have been anyone who fell off the ride that day."

Mr Ramsey has said he is "very grieved" at lives being lost. But he added: "Accidents happen in any walk of life. People die on planes, trains and in cars - it is a fact of life." The date for an appeal has yet to be set.

Cornwall police, who are handling the investigation, were unavailable for comment.

(Right) Checks - a policeman keeps watch over the ride in a Redruth funfair after a young girl fell and died

(Left) Victim - Stacey Ramsey who died after falling from a fair ride in Redruth, Cornwall

Picture:NICK ROBINSON

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