A family Christmas celebration turned into an unimaginable tragedy within minutes when a two-year-old girl wandered outside unnoticed and drowned in a garden pond, an inquest has heard.
Isobel Abigail Maxwell was celebrating Christmas Day with 14 relatives at her family home in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, when she disappeared from the house.
A coroner has now concluded that the toddler’s death was accidental.
Doncaster Coroner’s Court heard Isobel had spent the day moving between rooms, opening Christmas presents and joining in games before she slipped outside without anyone noticing.
Her mother, Tamara Wallace, said she began looking for her daughter after cleaning up a wax melt burner which Isobel had knocked over.
When she could not find the youngster anywhere inside the house, the family began searching outside.
Moments later, Isobel’s father, Aaron Maxwell, discovered his daughter in the garden pond.
Dad used phone torch to search dark garden
Mr Maxwell described using the torch on his mobile phone because the far end of the garden was dark.
He spotted Isobel’s dress in the water before jumping into the pond and pulling his daughter out.
Ms Wallace, who was pregnant at the time, immediately began performing CPR on Isobel as emergency services were called.
Paramedics arrived shortly before 5pm and continued attempts to save the toddler.
Isobel was taken to Doncaster Royal Infirmary, where despite the efforts of her family and medical teams, she was pronounced dead at 5.55pm.
Family planned to fill in pond
The inquest heard the family had moved into the property around nine months before the tragedy and regarded it as their “forever home”.
They had intended to fill in the garden pond during the summer and had put up a temporary fence around the area, although it did not completely enclose the water.
Coroner Louise Slater said the family’s dogs had been allowed outside earlier on Christmas Day and “it would appear a door was mistakenly left open”.
That allowed Isobel to make her way into the garden without being noticed.
Nobody saw her leave the house and it could not be established which of three doors the toddler had used to get outside.
Police investigated the circumstances surrounding Isobel’s death and confirmed there were no suspicious circumstances.
Detective Constable Danielle Duncan-Blakely described the devastating reality faced by a family who had lost their daughter on what should have been a day of celebration.
‘Our little adventurer’
Ms Wallace described Isobel as a healthy and energetic little girl who was affectionately known by her family as “busy Izzie”.
She said: “She was always on the move, our little adventurer.”
Coroner Louise Slater recorded a conclusion of accidental death and offered her “most heartfelt condolences” to Isobel’s family.
The family chose not to attend the inquest because of the distressing circumstances surrounding the two-year-old’s death.
