Boy, 8, found dead in bedroom on birthday after 'most tragic accident'

A young boy's birthday party ended in tragedy when he was sadly found dead in his own bedroom. Joshua Dunbar was at home in Birkenhead when the "most tragic" struck - turning the day into a "a parent's worst nightmare".

The schoolboy was found unresponsive with a helium balloon, shaped like the number eight, over his head at around 2pm on April 27 2024. Ambulance services rushed the youngster to Arrowe Park , but he could not be saved and was pronounced dead at 7.23pm that day. His heartbroken mum Carly said Joshua was "deeply loved and missed" and "will forever be in our hearts and his memory will live on through us all".

She said: "Joshua was one of a kind with the brightest blue eyes and the cheekiest smile; he loved to give all his friends hugs.

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"I would never want another parent, family, to suffer the loss of their child in the most tragic way we have. So please listen when I say don't buy helium balloons. Your whole can change within minutes, literally. They destroy lives and they take lives."

reports a post-mortem found Joshua's cause of death was "consistent with asphyxia involving a helium balloon". At an inquest last week, April 24, coroner Andre Rebello said: "Helium is not poisonous. What has happened is helium has displaced the available air to breathe, and that is what has caused Joshua's death.

"The breathing of helium prevented oxygen getting into his body, and without oxygen, within minutes life is not achievable. This was a most tragic day, because it started as a celebration. I understand that on April 27, just before 2pm, the North West Ambulance Service advised the police that Joshua was in cardiac arrest at his home address. CPR was in process and Joshua had been found unresponsive in his bedroom."

"When the incident occurred only Joshua was present and there's no evidence whatsoever that Joshua would have known of the fatal effects of such an action. Anyone with a heart would speculate as to what he was doing. It may be he was unaware as to the fact that there was no air within the balloon, or it may be that he was trying to see the helium passing over his vocal cords to change his voice. I don't know. Nobody knows. There's certainly no evidence this was an intentional act. He was a little boy in his room playing, and tragically it had fatal consequences."

He concluded the eight-year-old's death was "the most tragic of accidents". Addressing Joshua's parents, he said: "What you have been through these past 12 months are a parent's worst nightmare. All your hopes, aspirations and plans completely changed and I don't know if anybody can even half imagine what you have been through."

Following the inquest, Carly said she wanted to raise awareness of the potential dangers of helium balloons, which the coroner noted many parents may be unaware of.

In a statement, she said: "Before we lost our son I was very outgoing, very sociable, loads of fun, a good time to be around. I loved spending time with my friends, I loved spending time with my family. I loved saying to the kids 'let's go'. Going on adventures, going to watch the sunset, going for a run down the beach. Putting the music on, dancing and singing with that.

"That's how we were. We were a big happy family of six, and I always said we might not have it all together, but together we have it all, and that's what we went by. The day that our son was taken from us, a big part of me went with. My heart was just absolutely broken into pieces, never ever to be mended. Now I'm like a totally different person. I don't know myself any more."

Carly said she had suffered mental health problems and PTSD following Joshua's death, adding: "It was absolutely traumatic. You can't erase it from your mind. You close your eyes, it's all you see, it's all you hear. You hear the screams, the shouts, the sirens. You hear the doctor's words, saying to you that they're really sorry. It was time for him.

"Then I just remember holding his hand. Me and dad had a hand each, and we just held his hands and I said to him 'son if your angel wings are there and you're ready to take them, then take them. Mummy and Daddy and here with you and we're with you all the way. If you're ready to go son, you just go in peace'.

"Literally within minutes he was gone. It was as if he was waiting for me and his dad to give him that OK. These are visions I will never be able to erase or forget. These are things I've got to live with as well as learning to live without my son, as well as trying to be strong for my other kids. It's just absolutely torture.

"Hand on my heart, I would never want another child to lose their life, another family to feel what we feel every single day. It's just torture and it doesn't get easier, it really doesn't. If one, two, three people stop and think and take onboard what I'm saying and don't buy a helium balloon, that's one child death being prevented.

"That's what it's all about, preventing it happening to another child and the only way to do that is to stop buying helium balloons. Just buy the air ones - they look just as nice."