Toddler dies in cot tragedy
Two-year-old Eathan Matthew Roberts was copying his adventurous twin brother, who had safely managed to clamber out of his adjoining crib, when tragedy struck.
In a freak accident, Eathan tumbled into a small space between the cot bars and a door, and became trapped, suspended by his neck.
In a poignant twist, paramedics inadvertently recruited the toddler’s own stricken father to drive the ambulance to hospital while they battled to restore his son’s pulse.
Witnesses to the tragedy at Paices Hill in Aldermaston described hearing his mother’s “bloodcurdling scream” as, alerted by sounds on a baby monitor, she went to check on her boys.
There were emotional scenes at the inquest in Newbury Town Hall yesterday (Wednesday) as Eathan’s extended family, who run the motor racing at Aldermaston Raceway in Paices Hill, gave evidence.
His distraught mother Virginia Roberts, known as Ginny, said she was helping her husband Mitche prepare for a morning of racing at the track on Sunday, July 13.
Pick up a copy of today's Newbury Weekly News for the full story.