?? ‘Everything stopped for me, but everything carried on for everyone else’

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For Leah Bridge time has stood still since the tragic death of her three-year-old son Albie. In July 2022 the toddler died under the wheels of a farm vehicle driven by his dad Neil on his farm in Bury.

In a heart-breaking interview with Paige Oldfield, Leah described her pain at the death of her son. "It just feels like it happened yesterday," the 31-year-old said.

"It feels like I've stood still in time. I haven't moved on anywhere from it. I think 'what might he have seen? What might he have said? Was he scared?' I don't know because I wasn't there.

"It just didn't feel real. There's not a day where I don’t think about it."

Leah revealed she has had another son, Ebon, but her joy was etched with heartache as she struggled to look at him at first because she feared he would look like Albie. "I didn't know what he was going to look like... if he was going to look like Albie."

Ebon's middle name is Albie, in memory of his sibling. It's one of many constant reminders Leah has of her 'sunshine boy'. To this day, she carries one of his jumpers with her wherever she goes. It was taken from the wash basket after he died.

Leah relives the day she lost him over and over. She couldn't bring herself to tidy up the bowl of cornflakes he had eaten the morning of his death. It stayed where it was for months.

Albie Speakman was killed in July 2022 when he was hit by a defective telehandler driven by his dad Neil Speakman - Leah's ex-partner. The toddler would stay at the 39-year-old's on alternate weekends.

As his dad climbed onto a telehandler and moved bags of woodchip around, Albie played in the garden, throwing sticks into the air for the dogs. Mr Speakman drove forward, dropped the machine's forks and reversed back.

He then felt a thud as the machine hit something. When he turned around, the horror of what had happened became clear. Albie was rushed to Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead that afternoon.

Mr Speakman went on trial at Minshull Street Crown Court. He admitted breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act, having '[failed] to ensure the health and safety of Albie, so far as is reasonably practical', but denied gross negligence manslaughter.

He wept as he told jurors it was a 'tragic accident'. "I messed up, I made a mistake," he said. The telehandler, the court heard, was defective.

Mr Speakman was cleared of gross negligence manslaughter last week. He was told by a judge 'all options are open' when he is sentenced for the health and safety breach he admitted.

The trial may be over, but Leah continues to relive that warm summer's day over and over. "It just didn't feel real," she said. "Everything stopped for me, but everything carried on for everyone else.

"I feel as though Albie has been let down. I'm so disappointed. It's hard to explain. I don't even know where I go from here."

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