'My 11-year-old daughter went to bed as normal and just never woke up'

The dad of an 11-year-old girl who died suddenly in her sleep says she went to bed “normally” - but never woke up.

Steve Pritchard, 43, says Matilda, had been a “healthy” child and showed no signs of illness, but on the morning of April 3, 2024, Steve and his wife, Anna, 43, discovered Matilda had suffered a cardiac arrest in her sleep. Despite the best efforts of paramedics, she was pronounced dead on arrival at Leeds General Infirmary.

Now, the family, including Matilda’s 14-year-old sister, Olivia, is working to honour her “last wish” - to “rid the world of litter.”

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Steve, a company director, from Pudsey, Leeds, said: “As any child would do, Matilda went up to bed and just never woke up. It’s been catastrophically terrible - but I’m hoping we can start the process of our little girl’s dream, of a world without litter.”

Matilda was an animal lover and passionate about the environment. She loved litter-picking around Pudsey Park, and was given a Blue Peter Green Badge in early 2024 for showing she cared about nature, the environment, and sustainability.

“The news was always difficult for Matilda,” Steve said. “Especially with global events, like bushfires. Litter-picking was the only actionable thing she could do, being an 11-year-old. A few years back, she joined the litter-free Pudsey group. She was proud - she had her litter picker, and purple bin bags, and we’d go litter-picking together. She said to me one day: ‘Daddy - I dream of a world without litter.’ All I could say was: ‘One day, sweetheart.”

On the evening of April 2, 2024, Matilda went up to bed as normal. She didn’t show any signs of distress -