18-month-old boy died after being found ‘unresponsive’ in hotel lake

AN 18-month old boy who was reported missing from a rural hotel in West Wales died after being found unresponsive in a lake, an inquest has heard.

Finley Howell Sanders, from Clydach in the Swansea Valley, died on Thursday, May 27, at Maesycrugiau Manor in Carmarthenshire.

An inquest into his death, opened at Llanelli Town Hall on Friday, heard that Finley was found in one of the lakes situated in the grounds of the property late the previous evening – on Wednesday, May 26 – after his mother could not locate him.

A call was made to police at 10pm that night reporting that Finley had gone missing and could not be found. Emergency services were then called to the property some five miles north of the village of Pencader.

Around 45 minutes later Finley was found but was “unresponsive” in the water.

Speaking at the opening of the inquest, coroner’s officer for Dyfedpowys Police, Hayley Rogers, said: “At 10pm on Wednesday, May 26, police received an emergency call from a distressed female stating that she was unable to find her 18-monthold son at Maesycrugiau Manor.

“A search ensued and at 10.45pm the child, identified as Finley Howell Sanders, of Heol y Nant, Clydach, was found unresponsive in one of the lakes within the grounds.”

Miss Rogers added that “despite the best efforts of the emergency services” Finley was pronounced dead a short time later in the early hours of the following morning.

Dyfed-powys Police subsequently launched a full investigation into the death, which is still ongoing.

Extending his sympathies to the Sanders family, Paul Bennett, the acting senior coroner for Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, adjourned the inquest for a period of three months.