Mum of boy, 11, who died following East Sussex collision, backs Sussex Police crackdown on dangerous drivers

Harry Dennis died as a result of the injuries he suffered in the collision in December 2022.

The 11-year-old was critically injured and airlifted to hospital for treatment following the incident. He died two days later.

In November last year, Russell Le Beau, a 34-year-old scaffolder from Alexandra Road, Eastbourne, was sentenced to four years in prison, and was disqualified from driving for seven years after admitting causing death by dangerous driving, police said.

Harry’s mum, Maria, from Hastings, is now supporting Sussex Police’s Operation Spotlight, which is a targeted national operation to enforce road safety rules by spot-checking drivers and their vehicles.

She said: “I received a call from my husband that Harry had been in a collision and the air ambulance was on its way. My brain froze. I had no idea what had happened. I was in pieces and felt like my whole world had been flipped upside down.

“Harry was a whirlwind, he loved his sport. From the moment he could move he was climbing and jumping off things. He loved being outside, loved seeing his friends and playing football, and he loved to make everyone laugh.

“A scaffolding board came off the scaffold truck through the windscreen of the car and struck Harry. There was nothing they could do to save him.

“It was completely avoidable. It didn’t need to happen.

“My message to drivers out there is this, before you get in the car, think about Harry, not just Harry. It happens all too often. There’s far too many families that have been broken by this.

“Do you want to be that person that destroys those lives? That takes away whatever future that person had?

“How can you live with that? For the sake of putting your phone down, keeping the load down, or sticking to the speed limit?

“You think ‘it won’t happen to me’. But I am living proof that it does happen. People need to think about what they are doing.

“The last 18 months have been unimaginable. It still doesn’t seem real. Every morning I go into Harry’s bedroom and everything is still the same as it was there before he died.

“I want to try and prevent any other families needlessly having to go through the heartache that we have endured and will continue to live with for the rest of our lives.”

Her son, who attended The Hastings Academy, died in the collision in Hooe, near Bexhill.

As part of the campaign, police are highlighting the ‘fatal five’ factors which cause serious and fatal collisions. These are; drink and drug driving, distracted driving by using a mobile phone, not wearing a seatbelt, speeding, and careless or dangerous driving.

Chief Constable Jo Shiner said: “Tragically in Sussex last year 45 people were killed after being involved in a collision on our roads.

“We know that so many of these collisions are easily preventable, and reducing the number of people who are killed or seriously injured on our roads is a priority for Sussex Police. This has devastating consequences for families such as Maria’s.”