Ella Kissi-Debrah inquest: Mother fears she will have to move to save other children from dirty air

A landmark inquest is taking place  to establish whether pollution in  London caused the death of a  nine-year-old. Katie Strick reports
Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah
Heartbreak: Rosamund Kissi-Debrah 
Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures Ltd

The mother of a young girl from Lewisham who died of an asthma attack thought to be linked to pollution fears London’s toxic air will force her to flee her home to protect her other children.  

Rosamund Kissi-Debrah’s daughter Ella, nine, died in 2013 after three years of seizures and 27 visits to hospital with breathing problems

An inquest in 2014 ruled that she died of acute respiratory failure, but a fresh inquiry began on Monday to determine whether air pollution contributed to her death.  

The family live 30 metres from the South Circular Road in south-east London and reports have since found pollutant levels exceeded lawful EU limits in the three years before her death.  

If air pollution is found to be a cause of death in Ella’s case, it would be a legal first in the UK — and possibly the world. After years of campaigning, former teacher Ms Kissi-Debrah says she is pleased this week’s inquiry is raising awareness of toxic air pollution, but voiced concerns that rising traffic levels will “force” her family to move house for the sake of her two remaining children.

Speaking to the Evening Standard, she said: “It’s like we’ve become refugees of the climate crisis. Of course I’m going to worry [about the same thing happening to my other children]. I’m not going to wait around.”

Ms Kissi-Debrah went on to explain how moving house would be a last resort rather than a choice. All three children grew up in the family home and Ella’s twin siblings are able to visit their sister’s grave in the local cemetery and her bedroom, which still has planes stuck to the walls in a nod to her dream of becoming a pilot.  

The nine-year-old has been described by her mother as “vibrant and healthy” before getting ill. She played almost a dozen musical instruments and had a reading age five years her senior by the time she died. Ms Kissi-Debrah says it still makes her sad that she couldn’t give Ella answers as to why she had become so chronically ill.  

Ella died in 2013 after suffering from an asthma attack
PA

She also told the Standard how she “choked up” in court when a witness offered condolences. The inquest is taking place at Southwark council offices near London Bridge and while the family cannot comment on the live proceedings, Ms Kissi-Debrah says her main emotion is “sadness — for Ella and many others”.  

More than 25,000 children in London are currently diagnosed with asthma and up to 10 die every year from the condition. Ms Kissi-Debrah says that the “asthma cough” she got to know so well while her daughter was sick still makes her stop in her tracks and that the family try not to talk about Ella’s illness because it is “too depressing”. Instead, Ella is “just part of the conversation” every day at home and they still celebrate her birthday at their favourite Italian restaurant in Crystal Palace.

She also spoke of how the Covid-19 pandemic gave her “mixed feelings”. The family have lost 18 family and friends to the virus and the first lockdown period was “dreadful”. On the other hand, the drastic reduction in air pollution in London — up to 55 per cent in some areas — was exactly what Ms Kissi-Debrah says she has been dreaming of since Ella’s death.  

The fact that coronavirus is a respiratory illness also brought her fight for the right to breathe clean air into sharper focus. The Government estimates the number of people killed by long-term exposure to air pollution in the UK to be as high as 30,000 a year and Ms Kissi-Debrah hopes that by making the “invisible killer” legally visible, it will be easier for the authorities to be held account. The hearing is due to last until next week and will  hear from Defra and the Department for Transport.

Read the full interview here.

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