Leo Latifi locker death: Prayers for boy, 9, killed

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-48408509

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A church has been opened for personal prayers and tributes for a nine-year-old boy who died after becoming trapped underneath a locker at a school.

Leo Latifi was attending an after-school swimming club at Great Baddow High School in Chelmsford, on Thursday evening when the incident happened.

The pupil who had attended St Michael's Primary School in Galleywood, Essex, died in hospital.

St Michaels Church is open all weekend for people to pay their respects.

Its vicar, Reverend David Cattle, spent Friday afternoon with Leo's classmates.

"It's one of those freak accidents, a one-in-a-million thing and the school of course is very shocked and very saddened," he said.

"But I think the children have shown remarkable resilience in how they've coped with it," he added.

Elizabeth Snowden, Archdeacon of Chelmsford, said: "The staff in the school have been absolutely amazing.

"I think it's difficult to get it right because you don't want to minimise a child's grief but on the other hand you want them to find ways to manage it."

She added some of the children wrote poems - "really beautiful things that they'd expressed capturing their friendship," she said.

The head teacher of St Michael's said on Friday the Year 4 pupil was a "sparkle in our school".

The Health and Safety Executive has said it is investigating Leo's death alongside Essex Police.