The mother of Archie Battersbee has discussed details of her son’s final weeks in an exclusive interview with GB News.
Last week, a coroner concluded that Archie Battersbee died accidentally in a “prank or experiment” that went wrong and had not intended to harm himself.
The 12-year-old’s life support was withdrawn on August 6, 2022, after his parents, Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee, failed in bids to overturn a High Court ruling that doctors could lawfully do so.
Judges were told Hollie found Archie unconscious with a ligature over his head at home in Southend, Essex, on April 7 last year.
Archie Battersbee's mother Hollie Dance.
GB News
Now, in an interview with Eamonn Holmes, Hollie has reflected on the ruling from the coroner.
She said: “The coroner reached that it was an accident and possibly a prank that's gone wrong. Something that isn’t uncommon for boys, especially teenage or approaching teenage years.
“They know right from wrong, they know that they shouldn't be doing things.
“But why do they do it? There is no reason why they do it. He was just being a 12 year old little boy.”
Asked if she discovered anything about Archie that she didn’t know, Hollie said: “Archie being bullied was a massive shock to me. Because Archie always told me everything and I still feel if it was getting to him to the level that he was worried or concerned.
“I do think that even if he didn't tell me, he would have told his brother. But had that support been in place at senior school, that trusted person, Archie might have been able to tell that that person that he was being bullied.”
Hollie explained that she did not believe Archie took his own life, revealing texts he had sent to friends just weeks before his death about plans for the future.
She said: “He loved life and he he had his plans for the future. The messages between him and his friends, sort of like the last few weeks between each other talking about when they're famous, they're gonna do this and going to buy this person a car and this person a house and I'm gonna wear this tracksuit and these shorts and everything was positive.”
Hollie joined Eamonn Holmes to reflect on her son's death.
GB News
Reflecting on the lack of support Archie received, she continued: “The support wasn't in place and I just think that he was bored, you know, like the lockdown, you know.
“There was a couple of messages where Archie and his friends said about being depressed.
“Yes, the whole word depressed is concerning, but I think kids use that word very easy these days, you know, ‘I’m bare depressed’. This is how they will talk.
“Looking at the messages between him and his friend. His friend says, ‘yeah same’. This was in the lockdown.
“Now for Archie to go from being so full of energy and channeling that energy out into all Archie's hobbies to nothing, because we're on lockdown, of course you're gonna get a child that's not his normal self.
"To the point where he would consider taking his life? Definitely not.”
