Toddler found hanging from cord

A toddler with Down's syndrome died after she was found by her mother hanging by a blind cord in her bedroom, an inquest heard.

Annette Latimer, of Bournemouth, Dorset, found her two-year-old daughter Lucy Cutts with the "cord from the blinds wrapped around her neck".

A post-mortem examination showed she died of asphyxia due to compression of the neck structures by a ligature.

Bournemouth coroner sheriff Payne recorded an accidental death verdict.

"I could find no information to make me believe this is anything other than a tragic accident"
Det Insp Stewart Balmer
Dorset Police

Miss Latimer cried as she described how she discovered her youngest child "as if asleep", Bournemouth, Poole and East Dorset Coroners Court heard.

Miss Latimer removed the beaded cord and tried to resuscitate Lucy while calling for Billy, Lucy's older brother who was three at the time, to get the telephone.

After dialling 999, paramedics later took over resuscitation of her youngest child before she was taken to Poole Hospital and pronounced dead on 10 July this year, the court heard.

"The cord from the blinds was wrapped round her neck, under her neck, it was pulling her forward," said Miss Latimer.

Coroner Payne said: "Here was an active child that did not appreciate normal dangers that other children might appreciate.

"You removed the cord and started resuscitation and called Billy to get the phone and you dialled 999 and continued to try to revive Lucy until the paramedics came and took her off to Poole hospital but sadly there was nothing they could do for her."

'Lively child'

Det Insp Stewart Balmer, of Dorset Police, said: "It would have been possible for Lucy to reach the cord and to somehow place her head through it in a manner which would be consistent with the ligature mark around her neck.

"I could find no information to make me believe this is anything other than a tragic accident."

Angie Prieur, manager of Park View Day Nursery, which Lucy attended, described her as a "delightful, lively" child and "much loved by her mum".

She said: "Lucy was always on the go and into everything, not thinking of the consequences of what would happen if she tried something out.

"Down's syndrome children are very strong in the upper body."

RELATED INTERNET LINKS
HM Court Service
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites