Remembering Clinton Pringle ten years on

Channel 103 has been speaking to the dad of Clinton Pringle, who died ten years ago this month after being hit by a van.

Three-year-old Clinton was hit near Millennium Town Park in St Helier on 27 June 2016 and passed away in hospital three days later.

The woman driving the vehicle, Rebekah Le Gal, was handed a suspended prison sentence for causing death by careless driving.

A plaque is in place near the park as a permanent reminder of what happened that summer's day. It describes Clinton as 'the bravest little lion with the biggest heart'.

In a wide-ranging chat, Channel 103 spoke to Michael Pringle, about:

The moment he found out what happened:

"I can still remember that, dropping to my knees. I was just outside Athens at the beach, and it was like an explosion. It was the most horrendous feeling, the pain I felt was like nothing else I'd ever felt in my life before.

"When I think about Jersey, I think about how I felt on the plane, and I think about receiving the call from the doctor in Jersey to tell me my son wasn't going to survive, that there had been an incident and he'd been involved in a road traffic collision."

The anniversary of Clinton's passing

"This time of year is always difficult for us. I think mainly because there are so many anniversary dates in a short space of time. We've got his birthday in May and obviously this week coming, we have the anniversary of the incident itself, and his death was a couple of days later, and the day after his death, we know that his organs and his heart went to other people, to a child in particular who got his heart.

"The funeral never took place for weeks afterwards, so you've got that as well, it's a really difficult five or six weeks that is really at the forefront of your mind.

"We're doing the things that normal families do, but at this time of year, there's a lot of reflection, and at Christmas, it's a double-edged sword almost where you've got the happiness of what's going on in the family, you've also got the thoughts of what might you be doing.

"Normally on the 30th, the day of his death, we go to the cemetery, and we'll lay flowers. We get a floral tribute made every year, as we do for his birthday, we get a number made for his birthday. He was 13 this year."

Jersey remembering Clinton

"It's great that so many people remember him, and his legacy is that somebody else survived because of him. I've been in touch with that family, they've actually sent us a photo of the child who got his heart along with a picture of myself and Clinton, that's a really big thing for us that somebody else has managed to survive because of what happened to Clinton.

"Some people describe grief as carrying a very heavy backpack, and I think that's right in a lot of respects - you never really get to take it off, you just learn to it carry it a bit better.

"There's still time when it feels a bit too much.

"I want to thank everybody in Jersey. There were so many messages sent at the time and I'd actually forgotten about a lot of them, you get caught up in what is going on, things come in, time passes, and you forget about them.

"They're not really that significant at the time, it's only when you look back.

"I want to thank everybody that has reached out over the years."

Not returning to Jersey

"I've never been back to Jersey, I've never seen the plaque. We just don't feel the urge to come back, there's so much trauma related to going back there.

"My first trip to Jersey was after I left the hospital in Southampton, right after Clinton's death. That sticks in my mind.

"I come back a couple of times after for the inquest, but there's no good memories there for me. We met Francisco Gouveia, who tried to help him that day, and our son's middle name is Francisco after him, but we don't really want to come back because of the connotations and the trauma, but there's loads of good people in Jersey who still to this day contact us and tell us they think about Clinton when they pass his plaque. They'll sit beside it for a while.

"I think it's good that the parish actually placed that plaque there because they were under no obligation to, but it does serve as a reminder to let people remember what happened and hopefully nothing like that ever happens again."

Managing the ongoing grief

"Things have moved on, but in a lot of respects, we're still stuck back in 2016. Unless you've been through something like this, you'll never really understand how badly it affects you.

"We've got two children who weren't born then, and you go how has that time passed, how did we get to this stage, how did we manage? We don't really know, to be honest. People say 'you're strong, you're very strong', but you go I'm not strong, I'm just trying to cope and get through as best as I can.

"Some people just fold and never get back up again, but I think the fact that we've got two young children is a big thing for us."

Clinton's siblings

"They're both real characters, very different to their brother.

"The two of them are real characters, there's never a dull moment in here with them, that's for sure!

"There's obviously constant reminders, they're very well aware of what happened to their brother. We tend to be hyper-vigilant with them, you scrutinise everything they do, you try not to let them stray too far from you but it's hard.

"You want your children to become independent and it was something with Clinton, we wanted him to be an independent wee guy but it's more difficult now because you're always wary of that million to one chance that something is going to happen and most people don't think about that, but with us, it's always at the forefront of our minds now and it's hard to relax, when you're trying to give them that independence.

"Both of them have got a photograph of him in their room, through choice, and it's the same photograph - taken on his third birthday at the football, it was a photo of me and him, and both of them wanted that picture.

"Clinton was a massive football fan, I've never met a child so young that was so fascinated and so into football!

Clinton and Michael with Celtic star Kieran Tierney

"His brother is the total opposite! He can't stand it!

"I've taken him along to the games and he's like, no, this is a stupid game! I was like, right, you may have a point here!

The football community remembering Clinton

"I take a banner along (to Celtic) to coincide with his birthday each year, which is normally the final game of the season, and it's the photograph of me and him that's on this banner and it's plain to see on TV.

"A section of the support actually put out a message banner just last month on that day and I didn't expect it, it said 'Clinton Forever In Our Hearts'.

"At the football tournaments I met his friends who he was at nursery with and when I was at the final game of the football season, young Daniel, who was his best friend, he got a picture taken with his banner and they're 13 now, they're teenagers now."