A TODDLER DIED AFTER FALLING INTO WAIST-HIGH WATER

A TODDLER DIED AFTER FALLING INTO WAIST-HIGH WATER AS HER
GRANDMOTHER FRANTICALLY SEARCHED FOR HER A FEW FEET AWAY.

LITTLE JENNIFER WOOD, AGED 3, WAS ON A THAMES BOATING HOLIDAY
WHEN THE TRAGEDY HAPPENED, AN INQUEST HEARD ON FRIDAY.

SHE FELL INTO A MARINA NEAR MOORED DINGHIES OY MOMENTS
AFTER HER GRAN LOST SIGHT OF HER IN A BOATERS’ CLUBHOUSE.

HER GRANDMOTHER, MRS DOREEN WOOD, OF PATIENCE ROAD,
BATTERSEA, WEPT AS SHE TOLD SOUTHWARK CORONERS COURT HOW LITTLE
JENNIFER WAS ONLY MISSING FOR A FEW MINUTES.

‘SHE HAD BEEN FISHING FROM THE BOAT AND GOT ANGRY WITH ME
BECAUSE I WASN’T FISHING AS WELL.

SO I PUT MY NET IN AND CAUGHT THREE
TIDDLERS.

‘SHE SAID TO ME ‘I LOVE YOU NANNY’ AND THEN SAID SHE WANTED
TO GO INTO THE CLUBHOUSE.

I HELPED HER OFF THE BOAT AND WATCHED HER
GO IN,’ MRS WOOD TOLD THE INQUEST.

‘I WENT TO THE COCKPIT TO GET A CIGARETTE – THEN I ASKED MY
FRIEND, DAPHNE, WHERE JENNY WAS AND SHE SAID ‘I JUST PASSED HER IN

THE CLUBHOUSE’.

‘I CALLED HER AND THERE WAS NO ANSWER.

I THOUGHT SHE WAS
PLAYING HIDE AND SEEK, BUT WHEN SHE DIDN’T ANSWER I GOT WORRIED.

‘
MRS WOOD SAID SHE STOPPED A PASSING MOTORIST AS SHE
SEARCHED FRANTICALLY FOR THE CHILD.

‘SHE HAD ONLY BEEN MISSING FOR FIVE OR SIX MINUTES WHEN THE
WIND BLEW THE DINGHIES ASIDE AND JENNY JUST FLOATED UP FROM UNDER ONE
OF THEM.

‘
FIGHTING BACK THE TEARS SHE ADDED: ‘SHE COULD STAND UP IN
THAT WATER – IT WAS ONLY WAIST HIGH.

I PULLED HER OUT AND SOMEBODY
SHOUTED ‘TURN HER UPSIDE DOWN’.

I TRIED TO GIVE HER THE KISS OF
LIFE.

‘
PATHOLOGIST DR CHARLES NAYLOR TOLD THE COURT THAT JENNY WAS
ALIVE AFTER THE ACCIDENT ON THE RIVER THAMES AT WEST BYFLEET ON
AUGUST 7, BUT HER BRAIN HAD BEEN IRRETRIEVABLY DAMAGED DUE TO LACK OF
OXYGEN.

SHE HAD DIED THE NEXT DAY.

JENNY’S MOTHER, DONNA, OF MACEY HOUSE, SURREY LANE, BATTERSEA,
HUGGED MRS WOOD AS CORONER SIR MONTAGUE LEVINE RECORDED A VERDICT
OF ACCIDENTAL DEATH.

‘THIS WAS A TERRIBLE TRAGEDY FOR A THREE YEAR OLD CHILD WHOSE
MOTHER AND GRANDPARENTS WERE DEEPLY ATTACHED TO HER,’ SAID SIR
MONTAGUE.

‘SHE WAS LEFT UNATTENDED FOR A FEW SPLIT SECONDS.

THE
TRAGEDY WAS THAT THE CHILD HAD GONE INTO THE WATER CLOSE BY – AND
THERE WAS NO SPLASH OR ANYTHING TO INDICATE SHE HAD FALLEN IN.

‘
HE ADDED: ‘THE GRANDPARENTS SHOULD NOT BLAME THEMSELVES
FOR THIS TERRIBLE TRAGEDY.

IT IS A VERY CARING FAMILY.

‘
AFTER THE VERDICT THE TWO WOMEN WERE HELPED WEEPING FROM THE
COURT.

ENDS