The tragic death of a two-year-old girl who drowned in her garden pond on Christmas Day has been ruled accidental.
Isobel Abigail Maxwell had been celebrating the day with her extended family at her parents’ house in Doncaster when she got into the garden and fell in the pond.
An inquest at Doncaster Coroner’s Court heard no one saw her go outside and it was not known which of the three sets of doors Isobel had walked out of.
Coroner Louise Slater said that at some point during the day the family dogs were let into the garden and after a door was ‘mistakenly’ left open.
Isobel and her parents, Aaron Maxwell and Tamara Wallace, had moved into the house nine months earlier and it was intended to be their ‘forever home’ as they grew their family.
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Mr Maxwell and Ms Wallace had been intending to have the pond filled in during the summer and had put a temporary fence around it, but this did not go all the way round, the coroner heard.
In a statement read to the inquest, Ms Wallace said Isobel was a healthy child and was known as ‘busy Izzy’ because she was ‘always on the move – our little adventurer’.
She said that there were 14 people at the house on Christmas Day and they had finished their dinner at around 2.30pm.
Isobel was going from room to room, opening presents and playing games.
Ms Wallace said at one point Isobel knocked over a wax melt burner in the hallway, and when she finished cleaning it up, she went to find her ‘to tell her it was OK and to be careful.’
The inquest heard that when she could not find her daughter in the house, she went into the garden, followed by Mr Maxwell.
She said that as they were searching: ‘I heard Aaron scream and saw him holding Isobel in his arms. I dropped to my knees. I’ve no idea which door Isobel managed to get out of. No-one saw Isobel leave.
‘It was a matter of five minutes she was missing.’
The inquest heard that Ms Wallace, who was pregnant with her second child at the time, started CPR until the ambulance staff arrived and took over just before 5pm.
She went on to say: ‘Isobel had never shown any interest in the pond before, whenever we were in the garden someone was with her. I just can’t believe this has happened.’
Mr Maxwell’s statement described how he took his phone to use as a torch because the bottom of the garden was dark.
He said he saw Isobel’s dress and jumped into the pond to pull her out.
Mr Maxwell said: ‘I can’t remember if she was facing up or down, everything was a blur. I was in a state of shock.’
He described leaving the house to try and find a defibrillator when he saw the paramedics arrive.
‘I followed the paramedics into the house. I felt so helpless, I didn’t know what to do,’ Mr Maxwell said.
Efforts to resuscitate Isobel were unsuccessful and she was declared dead at Doncaster Royal Infirmary at 5.55pm.
Detective Constable Danielle Duncan-Blakely, of South Yorkshire Police, said an investigation found there were no suspicious circumstances and told the hearing: ‘It’s sad, they have to carry on their lives knowing they’ve lost their little girl on that day.
‘They’ve had another baby, I just hope they can bring some joy from that.’
Recording a conclusion of accidental death, she said: ‘I would like to wish my most heartfelt condolences for (the family’s) loss, in these most tragic of circumstances.’