A mum who was left devastated after her little girl died in a car accident is finding new happiness in baby Millie.
Melissa McKay, 22, says she will never get over the loss of Poppy Boothroyd who died in January last year aged 21 months, after being accidentally reversed over by a van driver.
And although she is overjoyed at being blessed with the birth of Millie seven months ago she says Poppy is never far from her thoughts.
This weekend she will mark what would have been Poppy’s third birthday with a meal for friends and family at her home in Almondbury.
Melissa said: “I am just going to do a little buffet at home and light a birthday cake.
“There will be lots of fireworks, I can’t seem to stop buying them!
“And then we are going to take the cake up to her graveside at Almondbury.”
She says she still has sad days when the pain of her daughter’s death comes back to haunt her.
Melissa, who is part of a large family, said: “My six-year-old daughter Tia was asking me questions about her the other day. She was asking about her going to school when she is five.
“We all have our sad days, all of us.”
She said her pregnancy came as a shock. She said: “I was one month pregnant when Poppy died. I didn’t have a clue that I was pregnant.
“Having Millie come into the world has helped me a lot. It was good to be kept busy and having to do things. My children mean the world to me.
“I have my memories of Poppy and now I am making memories of Millie.
“I have a lovely new child though Poppy will never be forgotten. She is always in my thoughts.”
At an inquest into her death Melissa told the coroner Tim Ratcliffe that her daughter was “a mischievous little monkey who was into everything, who didn’t always do as she was told.”
The tragedy unfolded in St James Way, a cul-de-sac of modern town houses in Rawthorpe on the afternoon of January 9.
Neighbours heard screams and came running to help Jessica McDonagh, who had been looking after the toddler and had been about to go to the shops.
Ms McDonagh told the inquest how she had told Poppy to ‘stay there’ as she turned back into the house to shout for her mum.
She said the next thing she knew was seeing Poppy lying in the road and screamed for help.
The court heard that a BT engineer could not have seen the child in his vehicle’s blindspot.
Melissa told the hearing she did not blame the engineer for Poppy’s death saying it was an ‘awful accident’.
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