A mother told an inquest how she pulled her dying daughter from a neighbor's pond after the two-year-old wandered away unnoticed from a village playgroup.

Abigail Rae was dragged from the water by her frantic mother, Victoria, after she went missing from the Ready Teddy Go playgroup in the village of Brailes, Warwickshire, more than three years ago. But she failed to save her daughter and the girl died hours later in hospital.

 

The child is believed to have slipped out of the back door of the nursery. It was only her third visit to the playgroup.

Giving evidence yesterday at the inquest into her death, at Stratford upon Avon, Mrs Rae, 36, described her daughter as "happy and smiley" when she dropped her off just before 9am on Nov 28, 2002.

She returned to Brailes after a 45-minute trip with her husband, Justin, 39, an art director, to renew their car tax. The couple discovered two nursery staff in their road who claimed they were looking for a lost dog.

Mrs Rae, who now lives in Southend Bradfield, Berkshire, said: "They both looked panic-stricken and I asked them if they were all right.

"One of them replied that they had lost a dog. Justin and I laughed and I said, 'I thought you'd come to tell me that you had lost a child'."

It was not until 15 to 30 minutes later that a woman arrived at their house to report Abby's disappearance. Mrs Rae said: "There was a loud knock on the front door. I suddenly heard Justin say, 'What do you mean she's left?'

 

"She [the woman] told me that Abby was missing, that they had called the police and looked in the area."

Mrs Rae said she and her husband joined the search, looking in a nearby brook, in the pub, and in the post office.

It was as Mrs Rae exhausted her search that she saw two nursery workers in her front garden. She said: "I immediately stopped by them and the smaller lady said, 'She's in the pond'.

"I then remember running towards her and ran past her and said, 'Have you called an ambulance?'

"She said, 'No, somebody else has got the mobile phone'."

Mrs Rae told the inquest: "I continued running into the rear garden where I was frantically looking for a pond." She then ran into her next door neighbour's back garden.

"I can remember seeing very dark water covered in a green algae-type substance. Then I saw what I thought was a shoe. It had a flower on it.

"I knew immediately that it was Abby's shoe and I remember thinking, 'What is Abby's shoe doing in the pond?' "

She recalled jumping into the water, which was deeper than she had thought and came up to waist height.

Mrs Rae told the hearing: "I reached forward to grab Abby's shoe. As I grabbed for the shoe I missed it and put my hand under the water and was shocked to discover what I thought was a leg.

"I put my hand around the calf and as I did this I saw it was Abby and pulled her out and placed her down by the grass. The rest is a bit of a blur."

The trained nurse gave her child mouth-to-mouth before she was taken to Birmingham Children's Hospital, but after two hours, doctors ceased attempts to resuscitate her.

Mrs Rae described the moment staff stopped: "Justin stood next to Abby. After a short time, Justin said, 'Stop, that's enough. Thank you.' "

In a statement read to the court, Mr Rae broke down as he described the moment he realised that Abby was dead. He said: "I knew from the scream Vicky was making that she had found Abby dead."

Celia Diston, the nursery supervisor, told the inquest that staff realised Abby was missing when she did not respond to her name being called in the register.

She said she had unlocked the back door of the school so that she could return toys to an outside store room. It is believed that Abby left the building and passed through a gate, which was not checked during the daily safety procedure.

Ms Diston said the gate was only checked when children played outside, which they were not doing as it was winter.

The inquest jury was shown a police video that suggested that Abby had wandered from the rear of the school building, through a side gate and onto the road outside, and then into the rear of the neighbour's garden.

Clive Peachey, a bricklayer, drove past a child on her own, who he later believed to be Abby. He said: "She was not walking in a straight line. She was tottering. I kept thinking should I go back? One of the reasons I did not go back is because I thought someone would see me and think I was trying to abduct her."

Sharon Hibberd, a member of nursery staff, had told Mr and Mrs Rae that she was looking for a lost dog. "I don't know why I said that," she told the inquest. "I was shocked to see her parents."

Mr and Mrs Rae have two other children, Joshua, seven, and Toby, 18 months.

The inquest continues.

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