West Yorkshire-born child star dies in Los Angeles wildfires

Rory Sykes is best known for his roles on Kiddy Kapers in the 90s

LA wildfires© Alamy
Author: Rory GannonPublished 11th Jan 2025
Last updated 11th Jan 2025

A British-born child actor has been killed as a result of the ongoing wildfires in Los Angeles.

Rory Sykes, who was best known for his roles in Kiddy Kapers in 1998, was confirmed to have passed away in a statement released by his mother Shelly on her social media.

She said in the statement that he had been staying in the Malibu area of the city when the fires took hold, resulting in his death - with mum Shelley feeling "totally heartbroken".

She wrote: "It is with great sadness that I have to announce the death of my beautiful son Rory Sykes, to the Malibu fires yesterday. I’m totally heart broken."

Sykes was the co-founder of the Happy Charity with mum Shelley, describing her son as "a true humanitarian".

Rory Sykes was was born in West Yorkshire, having been born blind with cerebral palsy and had mobility issues during the course of his childhood, having had several surgeries and therapies to be able to see and walk again.

It was revealed that Rory had owned his own cottage on the family's TV studio estate, which had been filled with tech gadgets due to his penchant for Apple products.

Shelley went on to say that she was not able to put out the embers of the fire on the cinder blocks of his house, which caused the house to burn down on Wednesday (January 8th).

"He will be incredibly missed by his mama, his pet peacocks Edgee & Mickie & all his online fans around the world!" she added.

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