Finlay Butler Obituary, Death – The deaths of Finlay Butler, age eight, and his younger brother Samuel, age six, as well as the deaths of their relative Thomas Stewart, age 11, and another youngster, Jack Johnson, age ten, occurred simultaneously. On December 11th, they were rescued from the river in Babbs Mill Park in Kingshurst, which is located in the West Midlands. According to the testimony presented in the coroner’s court, the boys were still in the water more than 20 minutes after the initial calls to 999. The Birmingham and Solihull Coroner’s Court was told that three of the boys were rescued out of the water 22 minutes after the initial call, while the fourth kid was pulled out of the water nine minutes after the others.
The previous week, reports surfaced that a law enforcement officer had made an attempt to break through the ice in order to get to the missing people, and Detective Inspector Jim Edmonds praised the “heroic efforts of everybody involved.” He stated that the objective of the police investigation will be to “establish the facts of the boys’ attendance at the lake and also how they fell into the water.” The hearing that was scheduled to take place on Monday has been postponed, and a complete inquest into all four deaths is scheduled to take place on July 6. The senior coroner for Birmingham and Solihull, Louise Hunt, expressed her heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and referred to the event as a “devastating catastrophe.”
She stated that it was difficult to grasp the kind of anguish and sorrow that the families were going through. Ms. Hunt stated that the inquest that will take place in July would investigate both the circumstances that led up to the deaths as well as the cause of death. In addition to that, it will provide overviews of the three emergency agencies that were engaged, as well as their responses. The deaths of Finlay, Thomas, and Jack were verified by the police the day after the incident, and Samuel, who was six years old, passed away in the hospital on Wednesday. Ms. Hunt was informed that Jack, who is from Kingshurst, and Thomas, who is from Shard End, Birmingham, were recognized at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital by their respective parents.
Additionally from Kingshurst were the two boys Finlay and Samuel, who were seen at the Birmingham Children’s Hospital. Det. Insp. Edmonds reported to the inquest that the police had been contacted by a number of members of the public on the day in question. According to him, the initial call came in at 14:34 GMT on December 11 saying that “four children playing on a frozen lake at Babbs Mill Park had fallen through the ice, into the water.” He claimed the phone reported that the incident took place at Babbs Mill Park.