A SUFFOLK toddler, who died by drowning in her grandmother's swimming pool, has emphasised the dangers of tots and water an inquest heard.

By HELEN SKENE

Helen.skene@eveningstar.co.uk

A SUFFOLK toddler, who died by drowning in her grandmother's swimming pool, has emphasised the dangers of tots and water an inquest heard.

Paige Griffin's mother dragged her three-year-old daughter from the pool by her T-shirt and made desperate, but futile, attempts to resuscitate her.

Greater Suffolk Coroner Doctor Peter Dean recorded a verdict of accidental death.

He said: “It is clear that what happened here was a very tragic accident, particularly more so when you consider it was the loss of a very young child.

“It emphasises the hazards of children around swimming pools, but it was a difficult situation where the adults were doing their best to supervise a child in these circumstances.

“Here Paige declined to come in from the garden when requested to do so and she was not immediately found when her mother was trying to find her.”

The inquest heard that Paige and her mother Lynne Griffin, of Glanville Place, Kesgrave, had been visiting Lynne's mother Eileen Griffin at her home at Briarwood Road, Woodbridge when the tragedy happened.

Dr Dean said the two women had been doing housework with the help of Paige, who was alternating between helping with the work and playing, when she was discovered to be missing.

The court heard that Paige was running around in the back garden when her grandmother called for her to come inside.

Eileen said: “She was running round the garden and seemed to be enjoying the wind blowing around her. She was laughing because she knew I could not chase her. This was a game we often played with her playfully refusing to come in.”

The court heard that Eileen went inside and upstairs and a short while later Lynne stopped vacuuming and went outside to look for her daughter.

She said: “I remember going out of the patio doors and glancing at the pool and not seeing Paige at that stage. I went down the steps to the snooker room. Paige would sometimes play hide and seek in there.

“I walked back up the steps and it was then that I saw her. She was face down in the water. I grabbed her by the T-shirt and pulled her out.”

Lynne and her mother telephoned for an ambulance and together they attempted to resuscitate Paige.

Dr Dean said Paige was rushed to Ipswich Hospital and then to St Mary's in Westminster.

A post mortem at Great Ormond Street Hospital revealed that Paige's cause of death was “consistent with immersion”. Dr Dean said she had drowned on May 15 this year.