A FAMILY is taking legal advice after their two-year-old daughter was crushed by a door at a restaurant in Colchester.

Freya Epsom suffered a brain haemorrhage after an oak door fell on her at La Lounna, in West Stockwell Street.

A health and safety prosecution has been dropped because the restaurant has since closed and its director declared bankrupt, leaving civil action the only course of action.

Her mum, Kelly Lyttelton, from Braiswick, said: “This should never of happened, but it happened to our daughter and nothing has been done.

“We are speaking to a solicitor.

He is looking through the medical records.”

Ms Lyttelton had gone out for a meal with her partner, Stuart, and their daughter at the restaurant.

She was running around and pulled on a door which was not attached to anything and it fell on her.

Ms Lyttelton said: “It smacked her on the back of the head. Her face struck the slate floor with the door on top of her.”

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Freya’s teeth went into her gum and she was bleeding from the mouth and nose.

Scans at Colchester General Hospital revealed she had suffered a haemorrhage on one side of her head and a cluster of haemorrhages on the other.

Ms Lyttelton said: “She had a lump on her head which was growing and growing.”

Freya has since been diagnosed with cerebral palsy and walks with a limp.

It is not clear whether the incident played a part in this, but cerebral palsy can be caused by serious head injuries in the early years of a child’s life.

Ms Lyttelton said: “I don’t know if she had it and this brought it out or this caused it.”

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The incident took place on February 14, last year.

A Colchester Council prosecution was discontinued on January 26 after the company running the restaurant was dissolved and the former manager, Devide Hantonie, was declared bankrupt.

Ms Lyttelton said: “We are so cross. We want people to know what happened.”

Mr Hantonie opened La Lounna, at the former Stockwell restaurant and Stockwell Arms pub, in January last year, but closed last summer.

He admitted he had moved the door before opening and said it was not secured because it was a decorative feature.

He said he asked the council to carry out a health and safety check before he opened, but it told him it was not necessary.

Speaking about the incident, he said the door was in a private area the child should not have been in.

He said: “It is a sad story.

Freya’s parents let her run around.”

The owner of the building, Robert Morgan, who carried out the renovations, has died and his widow Maggie declined to comment.

Colchester Council has denied any wrongdoing.

No health and safety checks had been carried out before it opened.

A spokesman for Colchester Council said: “Legislation was repealed several years ago that required a business to notify a local authority’s health and aafety team of an intention to trade.

“A health and safety inspection was not conducted at La Lounna restaurant, formerly the Stockwell Arms, West Stockwell Street, Colchester, before it opened.

“An accident investigation was undertaken.

“As part of this investigation, an Environmental Health Officer, now no longer employed by Colchester Council, interviewed the parents of the injured party.

“This investigation was not dropped – it was completed.

“The investigation highlighted a number of issues at the premises that required attention, all of which were pointed out to the owner of the business.

“The investigation concluded there had been breaches of health and safety legislation which had resulted in injury to a customer at the premises, in this instance a child.

“La Lounna’s parent company was DHP Europe Ltd, which was issued with a summons.

“The case was listed to be heard at Colchester Magistrates Court on January 26.

“DHP Europe Ltd no longer exists as a legal entity: the company was struck off the registry at Companies House, when the sole director of the company declared himself bankrupt.

“After seeking legal advice, the council contacted the parents of the injured party to advise them that there is no longer a legal entity to prosecute, and that the case against the company had had to be withdrawn.

“To date, we have received no reply from the parents of the injured party, who remain at liberty to pursue a civil claim for compensation against the individual who ran the business at the time of the incident.”