Hundreds of delegates were silent at Black members’ conference today as they listened to the tragic story of Zane Gbangbola, whose family say that he was killed by hydrogen cyanide poisoning.
Zane’s father, Kye (pictured), spoke calmly and with great dignity as he described how, after years of fighting for the truth, he is still confronted daily with silence from the authorities involved.
“Zane deserves justice, he deserves the truth. I’m sure many of you in the audience have children and I would not wish what has happened to me and my family to ever happen again,” he said.
“Yet until we get to the truth, there is a very real chance that a similar disaster could occur, particularly as the risk of flooding increases with climate change.”
The Gbangbola family’s nightmare began on 8 February 2014 when severe weather warnings were announced across of England. As Zane slept upstairs at his home in Chertsey, Surrey, a flash flood of water from a neighbouring field started seeping into their home.
It was later revealed that this field had previously been used for landfill and hydrogen cyanide can lurk in such sites. This gas is so deadly that it was the one used to kill millions in the Nazi gas chambers during the Holocaust.
“It was my wife Nicole who alerted the emergency services that night as both Zane and I were seriously exposed to the gas and were unconscious. If she hadn’t dialled 999, it is very likely that many more people would have been killed.”
Tragically, Zane died that night and Kye, who was also exposed to the gas, suffered a cardiac arrest. He is now a paraplegic as a result of his injuries. Nicole was downstairs when the gas entered the house and survived without permanent injury, as hydrogen cyanide is lighter than air and the gas had risen to the top of the house.
A report by the Surrey Fire Service that night confirmed that high levels of hydrogen cyanide were found at the site.
Yet despite Zane’s death, Kye’s injuries, the official fire service report, the immediate presence of the world leading chemical weapons agency Porton Down at the site, and the fact that the Gbangbolas were not allowed to return to their home for 12 months, the family soon realised that the truth of what had happened that night was to be hidden from them.
For six years, they claim that the government has led a cover up of the truth.
At Zane’s inquest, the Gbangbola family was confronted with an army of top QCs and barristers. Each of the five authorities involved had its own team of legal experts – plus an additional team for the coroner.
“These teams were paid for from public funds,” said Kye. “By contrast, we were denied legal aid three times and had to crowdfund to afford the most basic representation.
“Zane was a beautiful and popular seven-year-old schoolboy who loved helping people and charities with his mummy and daddy,” said Kye. “At the inquest though, he was stripped of his human right to have his case heard by a jury. When you talk about equality of arms, it was tantamount to having multiple Goliaths bombarding a naked David.”
The inquest concluded that Zane died of carbon monoxide poisoning – a gas more commonly associated with home gas boilers – despite the fact that no dangerous levels of carbon monoxide were found at Zane’s home on the night of disaster and the family lived in an electric-only home.
The Truth About Zane campaign is now demanding an independent panel enquiry so that the truth of what happened that night and the risk posed by land fill sites across the UK can be fully exposed.
The British Medical Journal has identified that more than 50 million people in the UK live within 2km of landfill and, until there is an enquiry, the potential risk of similar disasters occurring will not be known.
“An independent panel enquiry is the way that Hillsborough finally got the truth after years of lies and misinformation,” explained Kye. “It’s a way of releasing information that has been locked away for years.”
Over the last six years, The Truth About Zane campaign has attracted widespread support from many politicians, organisations and trade unions, including UNISON and the Fire Brigades’ Union, whose members were at the scene on the night of Zane’s death. The Labour Party and the Green Party support the campaign too.
At the end of his speech, delegates at Black members’ conference gave Kye a standing ovation and collected donations in buckets to help fund the campaign.
“I thank you for your support in fighting this injustice,” said Kye. “Please show this support by signing our petition and pre-ordering a copy of our book. Together, we can find the truth about Zane and prevent similar disasters happening again in the future.”
Find out more – and pre-order a copy of The Truth About Zane – at www.truthaboutzane.com
Sign the petition for an independent investigation into Zane’s death

Zane’s parents and the TruthAboutZane Campaign has taken the decision to postpone our Petition March which was due to take place in London on the 29th March 2020.

​We are really sorry that this has been necessary however, it would not be responsible to continue with our plans given the current COVID-19 situation.  The world is in an unprecedented situation grappling with a global pandemic of COVID-19 and public health is everyone’s priority.

The recent COVID-19 announcements make clear there is a need to mitigate risk. As such for all of us, especially placing front line Emergency services at risk in a large gathering, who must be kept safe, the responsible thing to do is to delay the march.  

Our observances are that the wealthy few will be looked after. The many will not, and will be misdirected and sleepwalk into harms way due to a government happy to abdicate all responsibility for the civilian population. 

Zane's campaign is about caring, responsibility, and accountability. Solidarity and collectivism is about standing together to achieve change safely, keeping our brothers and sisters and their families free from illness, or WORSE.

We know you will share our disappointment that we will not be delivering Zane’s petition now but will understand why we have taken this step.
 
To you and yours STAY SAFE.
 
Kye and Nicole (Zane’s daddy and mummy) and The TruthAboutZane Campaign

Don’t let a grieving parent walk alone
29th March we march to 10 Downing Street!!!
Marching 108,000+ petition for an Independant Panel Inquiry into the death of little Zane.
#TruthAboutZane 

When Kye Gbangbola and Nicole Lawler moved into their house on the banks of the River Thames in Surrey, it looked like the perfect place to raise a family. Sixteen years later, it stands as a reminder of Zane, the son they lost, while their fight for answers continues over what caused his death.

The couple believe the inquest into their son's death, which concluded in September 2016, was flawed. Zane's death was attributed by the coroner to carbon monoxide poisoning from a petrol-powered pump used by the couple to clear floodwater - but which they insist was not in use.
They believe a former landfill site behind their home in Chertsey was the source of hydrogen cyanide gas, which was forced up and out of the earth by the "piston effect" of the swollen river raising the level of the water table underground, and it was this gas that killed Zane.
Firefighters found high levels of hydrogen cyanide at the property, according to the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), which has "serious concerns" about how the inquest was conducted.
They have spent the past six years gathering information they say was not explored or disclosed at the inquest, and which they want to be put before an independent panel inquiry.
This includes the existence of a Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) military tank-testing facility, identified as a former industrial site in Runnymede council's land contamination strategy. 
A former Ministry of Defence (MoD) engineer, who asked to remain anonymous, has told the BBC he believes subcontractors working for the tank-research facility five miles from the house used to dump waste chemicals in local gravel pits, including behind Zane's house.
He said those chemicals were by-products from anti-rust and anti-corrosion tank coatings and he claimed they could produce cyanide. They would have been put into drums that rusted and corroded over the years, allowing chemicals to leach into the ground, he alleged.
The BBC has agreed to protect his identity as a former MoD worker, but has therefore been unable to verify the claims.
It recently emerged during a commemoration for Zane, held at the House of Lords, that experts from the government's defence laboratory, Porton Down, were involved in the response to his death.
At that event, Manchester's Labour mayor Andy Burnham said: "I want the truth about Zane. I don't think we do have the truth about what happened to this lovely little boy.
"There were many authorities involved," the former health secretary said. "Porton Down was also involved. Did any of this come out in the inquest? No it didn't. Therefore, the full story clearly wasn't told at the inquest and it needs to be."
In his report at the conclusion of the inquest, the coroner Richard Travers cited an expert who said high levels of hydrogen cyanide were rare and all associated with former gasworks, while a council officer said there had been no significant pollution incidents on the land behind Zane's home since the 1950s.
However, another report referred to by the coroner did acknowledge that illegal tipping could have taken place, and a further expert, geo-environmentalist Gavin Roberts, told the inquest it was possible floodwater had triggered a one-off discharge of hydrogen cyanide and carried it to the basement of the house.
The coroners report ​did not look at the area's military and defence history.
In December, the FBU's general secretary Matt Wrack wrote to the family: "Our members attended that fateful day in 2014 and found hydrogen cyanide in your home."
He said there were "disturbing gaps in the evidence", adding: "The unregulated landfill site adjacent to your home seems to have released the nerve gas and there must now be an independent inquiry so this can be looked at, and those found responsible must be held to account."
The BBC has taken all claims about historical contamination in the area to the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the Environment Agency and Defra, and also to the two local authorities, Runnymede and Spelthorne councils. The tank facility was run by the former Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, which was part of the MoD and was later split into the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) and Qinetiq. The BBC approached DSTL, which has its headquarters at Porton Down, for comment but was referred to the MoD.

• The MoD declined to comment unless formal allegations were made. 
• Defra, commenting for the government and the Environment Agency, said: "This is a tragic case and our thoughts remain with the Gbangbola family. There has been an inquest into the cause of Zane's death. The inquest heard from many witnesses, and throughout the Environment Agency provided detailed evidence to assist the independent coroner in reaching his conclusion."
• Runnymede council said to the best of its knowledge it had no information regarding potential contamination from the former DERA operation. It said the site was identified as an area of potential contamination due to its former use but the ongoing redevelopment of the land had been through the planning process and conditions were put in place requiring contaminated land investigations and remediation.
• Spelthorne council said the coroner's report set out details of tests on the land carried out by the landowner, the Environment Agency and the family's insurers and quoted the coroner's statement that "on the balance of probabilities...there was no hydrogen cyanide present in the house". It said the lake behind the house was analysed quarterly by the landowners and was a healthy environment, adding that the landowner had analysed an on-site borehole for ground gas on a regular basis for a number of years. 
• Asked if there was any evidence of illegal dumping by DERA subcontractors, Spelthorne council said "no". 

​ORIGINAL ARTICLE BY TANYA GUPTA BBC NEWS

Dear Supporters,
URGENT HELP NEEDED - As we approach the anniversary of Zane's death, we ask that we all pull please pull together for one final push to reach 100,000 signatures and march on Downing Street.

ONLY 15,000 SIGNATURES NEEDED THEN WE MARCH
Can you please help spread the word by signing and forwarding the link below to your friends?

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/call-for-a-public-debate-into-the-death-of-7-year-old-zane or for a shorter link try:  https://bit.ly/2RnadXZ 

Many thanks
Zane's mummy and daddy

A public inquiry could open into the death of seven-year-old Zane Gbangbola if Labour win the general election.
Jeremy Corbyn's party made the pledge in its manifesto, which was released on Thursday (November 21), among a number of cases that it has described as "historical injustices".
Within the 105-page manifesto, the party vowed to "consider a public inquiry in the case of Zane Gbangbola", as well as ensuring the "second phase of the Grenfell Inquiry has the confidence of all those affected, especially the bereaved families and survivors".
The Chertsey schoolboy died when he was consumed by toxic fumes at his flooded home in 2014 after the Thames burst its banks. His parents Kye Gbangbola and Nicole Lawler have been "fighting for justice" for their son ever since Surrey's senior coroner Richard Travers ruled his death as accidental following an inquest hearing in 2016.
Campaign group Truth About Zane posted a message of thanks on its Twitter page following the publication of the party's manifesto.

Their campaign has received backing from numerous high-profile MPs, including Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham who in 2016 branded the inquest as "seriously flawed" when he was shadow home secretary.
The Fire Brigades Union and trade unions have also thrown their support behind opening an inquiry into Zane's death, with shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon telling a Labour Party conference last month a Labour government would hold an independent panel inquiry "to finally get the truth about Zane".
"People shouldn't have to fight for justice, but in the society we live in, sadly, all too often they do," he said.

The pledge comes exactly a month after what would have been Zane's 13th birthday.
To sign the parents’ petition for a public inquiry, visit here.
Original article by Matt Strudwick read here

Parents who insist their seven-year-old son was killed by cyanide gas during floods have spoken of their ongoing fight for justice as their boy would have turned 13.
Today Zane Gbangbola would have become a teenager, but he was killed when his home was flooded in February 2014.
An inquest in 2016 controversially found Zane died of carbon monoxide poisoning - despite fire services finding hydrogen cyanide in their Surrey home. 
Kye Gbangbola, 53, and Nicole Lawler, 42, have been joined by a string of trade unions and 50 MPs in their fight for an independent public inquiry into their boy’s death.

Kye was left with serious health issues which has confined him to a wheelchair
He said there has been a “wall of silence” from authorities, who the parents insist covered up the cyanide poisoning in a bid to prevent the public from knowing what happened.
Kye is paralysed from the waste down as result of exposure to cyanide, according to medical documents seen by the Mirror.
He said: “Children should not die and the truth behind their deaths go uninvestigated.
“Zane was a lovely, kind, bright young lad with his whole life laid out in front of him to enjoy - but it was taken away.”
The Fire Brigade’s Union is backing the parents’ campaign.
General Secretary Matt Wrack told the Mirror: “It is a scandal that Zane’s family still have not heard the truth about his death. We have serious concerns about how the inquest was conducted.
“There are troubling gaps in evidence and many questions that remain unanswered. Surrey firefighters found the deadly nerve gas hydrogen cyanide in Zane’s home.
 “Five years on, it still seems clear that the toxin was released from the unregulated landfill site adjacent, ultimately leading to Zane’s death.
“There must now be an independent panel inquiry so that those issues can be addressed and those responsible for any failings can be held to account.”
The Thames burst its banks in February 2014 but Zane’s parents said the road between the river and their house remained dry, while their property was flooded by water from a former landfill site behind their home.
The parents have evidence, they say, including medical reports that back up their claims, along with statements and test results that were not included in the inquest.
Evidence they have gathered also includes archives documenting munitions-testing on the land in the 1940s and waste-tipping in the 1960s, they say.
“This is my beautiful little boy, and he died,” said Kye, a European buildings expert.

The land near their home
“Emergency COBRAS, Porton Down, Hazard Area Response Teams and evacuations followed what happened - everything you saw at Salisbury happened to us.
“At Salisbury, over 130 diplomats were expelled from countries around the world.
“When children were thought to be poisoned by chemical gases in Syria, tomahawk missiles were fired into the country.
“When it happened to Zane in Surrey - nothing.
“Our son had just been killed. Our medical records, within minutes of his death, recorded notifications of hydrogen cyanide.
Kye and Nicole still live in the same home where their boy died - after having to leave it for more than a year after the tragedy due to the toxicity present.
The Environment Agency built a property next door to the family’s home in 2010 and fitted it with gas proof membrane, but it is alleged it did not tell the community of the dangers it had found at the former landfill site.
The 2016 inquest said Zane died from carbon monoxide poisoning from a petrol-powered pump at the house in Chertsey, Surrey.
But the parents say the pump had not been used.
Five years on, they insist their boy deserves justice and warn the same tragedy could hit millions more in the UK living close to landfill.

Zane's parents claim that he died of a result of toxic floodwater
“Zane’s inquest was marred by various areas of critical evidence being hidden and witnesses not being called,” said Kye.
Kye and Nicole still live in the same home where their boy died in Chertsey, Surrey.
House prices on the side of the road next to the former landfill site have plummeted and cannot be sold, Kye said.
“It was not a scene of devastation when we returned,” said Kye.
“It was an odourless gas that killed our son and so nothing had changed - but the most precious thing in our lives had been removed.
“At the time Zane becomes a teenager, 13 is such an important age, this is a time we should reflect on what has happened in the past five years.
“We’re friends with all of the people who were around when Zane was born.
“Lots of families are therefore celebrating their childrens’ 13th birthdays and of course we celebrate with them, but there is a huge feeling of loss.
“We’re in a club of people that nobody ever wants to be in.
“What happened is a disgrace to this country and to our politicians. Those in power have no right to violate Zane’s rights.
“They want us to go and away but we will not - we will keep on fighting.”
A Defra spokesperson said: “This is a tragic case and our thoughts remain with the Gbangbola family.
“Throughout the inquest the Environment Agency provided detailed evidence to assist the independent coroner in reaching his conclusions.”
To sign the parents’ petition for a public inquiry, visit here .
For the original Mirror article click here 

Please watch this 5 minute video on what should be Zane's 13th Birthday

On what should be Zane's 13 Birthday, Heaven and Earth may separate us, but nothing will ever change the fact that Zane made me a mummy. I hide the tears when I say Zane's name but in my heart I feel just pain. I loved him before he was born. First we shared a heartbeat then we shared a shadow, always together, we would stand in the sun and Zane would hide in my shadow popping out only to giggle and then back in again. We did the same with our footprints in the sand and snow. Trying to live without Zane, my heart, is the hardest but having to fight whilst grieving is despicable and only compounds the pain.

See how Zane's daddy and I alchemise our grief into a force to be reckoned with, watch how we turn Zane's tragic killing into transformation, loss into legacy, TruthAboutZane into prevention of future deaths from landfill, flooding, coverups into truth and justice for Zane. The energy of our defiant passion drives us ever forward. 

The parents of a boy who died in severe floods in 2014 have collated a range of information they claimed was not explored or disclosed at his inquest.
Zane Gbangbola, who was seven, would have become a teenager on 21 October.
A coroner said he died from carbon monoxide poisoning but Zane's parents insisted he was killed by landfill gases and want their evidence examined.
The Environment Agency said there had been a public inquiry where the coroner had given a comprehensive decision.
Parents Kye Gbangbola and Nicole Lawler have won the support of trade unions and opposition MPs, including shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon, who has said a Labour government would hold an independent panel inquiry "to finally get the truth about Zane".
At the recent Labour Party conference, Mr Burgon told a meeting of lawyers: "People shouldn't have to fight for justice, but in the society we live in, sadly, all too often they do."
As the date of Zane's 13th birthday approaches, his parents remember him as a child who at a young age campaigned for the environment and cared about the planet.
He was also a boy who loved sports cars and whose favourite place to visit was Brooklands motorsport and aviation museum.
Calls for an inquiry into his death have come from the Fire Brigades Union and an Early Day Motion by Labour's Jess Phillips has been backed by 50 MPs.
A spokeswoman for Surrey coroner Richard Travers, who in 2016 concluded Zane's death was accidental, said it was not appropriate for him to comment.
The Thames burst its banks in February 2014 but Zane's parents said the road between the river and their house remained dry, while their property was flooded by water from a former landfill site behind their home.
The evidence they have gathered is listed as covering medical reports, statements and test results, some of which has been shown to the BBC.
It also included archives documenting munitions-testing on the land in the 1940s and waste-tipping in the 1960s.

• FBU backing for flood death inquiry
• Accident caused boy's flood death
• Flood death boy's parents demand inquiry

Zane's parents are both environmental experts - Mr Gbangbola is a European buildings expert and Ms Lawler worked on the sustainability strategy for London 2012.
They said they believed the authorities knew the hazards and their son's death was "preventable".
They said there would be "massive" implications for the government, insurers and public if it was accepted Zane died from exposure to hydrogen cyanide gas from the former landfill site.
Mr Gbangbola said they wanted an independent panel inquiry because it could compel full disclosure by the authorities and he added: "There was absolute knowledge of the risk to life."
Ms Lawler said the 2014 floods that saw their son's death became the first incident linked to climate change by a UK prime minister, and she warned: "Floods are increasing and the climate is changing. This will happen again."
The BBC has approached the landowners for comment.
In a statement, the Environment Agency said: "There has been a public inquiry into the cause of death of Zane where the coroner provided a comprehensive decision and report on the inquiry. We have no further comment."
A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: "This is a tragic case and our thoughts remain with the Gbangbola family.
"Throughout the inquest the Environment Agency provided detailed evidence to assist the independent coroner in reaching his conclusions."
Original article >>