Missing Boy Died 'After Slipping Into Pipe'

A seven-year-old boy who was found dead on a building site got trapped after slipping into a pipe, according to his grandmother.

Conley Thompson went missing on Sunday evening after failing to return home from a park in Barnsley, South Yorkshire.

Grandmother Deborah Silverwood said she was "shellshocked" by his death and revealed his family had warned him not to play at the site.

"He got in through a hole at the top and with it raining it was slippy. Apparently he just slipped into a vertical pipe.

"God only knows how that little seven-year-old must have (felt). His brain must have been all over the place trying to get out.

"I know he would have been trying to get out.

"He's been known to go in there before and we've told him not to go in."

The police found the body at around 8.30am on Monday at the site on Bank End Road, Worsbrough.

Officers had been there during the search the previous night and found it "securely locked with a large perimeter fence".

"The investigation continues into the cause of Conley's death and we are working with the Health and Safety Executive as part of that investigation," South Yorkshire Police added.

Conley had last been seen at Locke Park at 8pm on Sunday and was reported missing after failing to return to his home on Underwood Avenue, according to police.

But Sky's North of England correspondent Gerard Tubb, reporting from the scene, said: "Now Conley's family say he was not in Locke Park but in a park next to his home.

"Meanwhile, police say he was not reported missing until 10.10pm."

Conley's grandmother described him as "a lovely little lad, boisterous, got into anything and everything but his smile could light up a room".

"It's not even sunken in now that he's gone," Ms Silverwood added.

"I'm stood next to the place where he died and I'm thinking 'what the hell were you doing Conley in a place like this?'"

People have been laying flowers and teddy bears next to the building site.

Wayne Bolton went to the building site with his four-year-old son to pay his respects.

He said: "I can't begin to imagine what that family are going through.

"It was such a tragic accident, hopefully, and we just want to show support for the family and to be fair the whole community has turned up.

"It's shocked everyone and everyone is in bits and luckily, in an area like this, everyone comes together and we all help each other."

Formal identification of the body found at the building site has still to take place.