Arrest over child killed by car on Kendal sports pitch

A gap in the fence around Kendal rugby club was cordoned off

BBC A section of the green fence around the rugby pitch is flattened. Orange traffic cones are lined in front of the gap while blue and white police tape cordons off the scene. — A gap in the fence around Kendal rugby club was cordoned off

A man is being questioned over the death of one child and injuries to another who were hit by a car which crashed through a fence and on to a sports pitch.

The pair were struck at Kendal rugby club at about 17:00 GMT on Wednesday, Cumbria Police said.

The male driver, who is aged in his 40s, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.

Tim Farron, the MP for the area, described the crash as “devastating, utterly heartbreaking news”, adding: “Our community in Kendal is stunned and in mourning.”

There was a police presence at the rugby club into the night, with officers saying the car involved was a black BMW i40.

The Reverend Canon Shanthi Thompson said Kendal is a “close community”

Reverend Canon Shanthi Thompson The Reverend Canon Shanthi Thompson is wearing a clerical collar. She has short, very curly grey hair and wears large black-rimmed glasses. — The Reverend Canon Shanthi Thompson said Kendal is a “close community”

The Reverend Canon Shanthi Thompson, from Kendal Parish Church, said a moment of silence was held after its Ash Wednesday service “because it’s so hard to find the words to say at a time like this”.

“Kendal is a very close community and many, many people will have links to the rugby club and people will know the children involved,” she told BBC Radio Cumbria.

A police presence remained into the night at the rugby club

A police car parked in front of the sports pitch. Five-a-side football goals have been covered in green tarp obscuring the site of the crash. The front of the black car can be seen edging out from behind one of the goals. Police officers stand nearby. — A police presence remained into the night at the rugby club

At the scene

Jennie Dennett, BBC Radio Cumbria

The sunrise here is lighting the frosty pitch and the very wrong sight of two buckled fence panels that are pitchside, opposite the clubhouse car park.

The green panels have bent right over in front of the drop down to the pitch and there is blue and white police tape across the gap in the fence.

It’s an indication of the awful consequences of yesterday’s crash.

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