Tragic toddler death "every parent's nightmare"

The tragedy - described by the coroner as “every parent’s nightmare” - happened at the home of little Conway Martyn’s grandmother in Mariners Lane in Tutts Clump near Bradfield.
The grandmother, Anne Fitzwilliams, was said to be too distressed to attend Wednesday's hearing in Newbury to give evidence but she explained in a statement how her daughter Angharad, son-in-law Simon and grandson Conway, who lived in West London, had been emjoying a stay at her home, which included a wooded garden and large carp pond.
The inquest heard how, on September 24 last year, she had been training gundogs in a nearby field and that Conway had joined her for a while before going back to the house.
She described having watched him go safely inside where his mother was but later heard someone shouting for the toddler.
Mr Martyn then told the inquest that he had come home and, on discovering his son was not in the house nor with his grandmother, had raised the alarm.
Mrs Fitzgerland described how she then spotted Conway’s drinks beaker floating on the algae-covered pond and had gone inside the enclosure - the gates of which were locked and doubly secured with elastic cord -and jumped in, finding the body with her feet.
Mr Martyn tried to resuscitate his son, who was then airlifted to the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, where he was pronounced dead at 1.42pm.
Post mortem tests revealed the cause of death was drowning.
Berkshire coroner Peter Bedford said: “This is every parent’s nightmare. The pond area was reasonably secure and Conway was never encouraged to go there. I accept the family’s belief that an adventurous young boy proved capable of climbing over the fence, which was not foresen.
“The clear and obvious conclusion is that this was an awful and tragic accident.”