Overview
- The Prevention of Future Deaths report, published this week, faults police for failing to collect vomit samples or preserve scene evidence after Benedict Blythe’s 2021 collapse.
- The coroner urges Cambridgeshire Police and the Royal College of Pathologists to act, noting early testing could have identified the allergen sooner.
- A jury concluded the probable trigger was cow’s milk protein, most likely from Benedict’s own receptacle during break time.
- Jurors found departures from his parents’ allergy plan, opportunities for cross-contamination, late recognition of symptoms, and delays in administering adrenaline.
- The family, calling the report a missed opportunity, continues to campaign for ‘Benedict’s Law’ to standardise school allergy safeguards, after delivering a 13,000‑signature petition to No 10 in August.