Girl, 2, died in garden pond

A TODDLER died in a shallow duck pond at her grandparents’ cottage, an inquest heard yesterday.

Violet Knox, two, had been helping her grandfather Andrew Peck stack wood before she wandered off with another child.

When the other child returned alone, the family began a desperate search of the garden in Beck Row, Suffolk. Violet’s grandmother Angie Knox found her lying face down in the 20 inch-deep water on February 23.

The child’s mother, Katie Knox, 30, tried in vain to revive her before paramedics arrived. Violet, pictured, was later pronounced dead at West Suffolk Hospital, Bury St Edmunds.

A post-mortem examination found she died ‘rapidly’ from cardiac arrest caused by sudden immersion in cold water, known as ‘dry drowning’.

Suffolk coroner Nigel Parsley recorded a conclusion of accidental death.