A HAMPSHIRE mother has recounted her desperate attempt to revive her toddler son after he fell head first into a bucket of water.

Nicola Thorne described how she pulled Jack, aged 15 months, from the large bucket, filled with only around seven and a half inches of water, in the back garden of her home in Westman Road, Weeke, Winchester.

Miss Thorne told an inquest at Winchester yesterday (July 4) she had searched for Jack after he had wandered off following the family's evening meal on April 20.

She had searched in the garden and the house for 10 minutes before one of her two other sons had said: "Jack was playing in the water."

Miss Thorne said: "I thought he meant the sprinkler. I ran outside. Jack was not there. I thought he might have gone into the shed.

"It was open. Then I turned around and he was in the bin. I picked him straight out. I put my arm around his waist and yanked him out.

"He was all blue. I started screaming and shouting at the boys to go next door and get help. I called the ambulance and was doing mouth-to-mouth. All I could hear was gurgling noises in his stomach."

Jack was rushed by ambulance to the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester but despite efforts to revive him he was pronounced dead that evening.

Miss Thorne said she had moved the bucket into the back garden and had used water from it on the plants.

She said Jack's favourite spot in the garden was near a patch of purple pebbles.

"Jack had never gone near that bin before. I have no idea why he went near it. He had never been near the bin before. He was always where the purple pebbles were.

"It had bushes all around till about three to four days before when I cut them down. The dogs drank water out of it. The kids made mud pies but Jack never went near it"

Detective Sergeant Paula Myers said there were no suspicious circumstances.

She said: "The bucket was next to the path, slightly lower than the path. Jack had got his head and top half of his body over (the edge) and would have rolled in.

"Going in head first he would not have been able to lift his body out."

Central Hampshire Coroner Grahame Short recorded a verdict of accidental death.

Mr Short said: "I find on the evidence that he overbalanced when looking into it and then couldn't get out.

"When he found his head under water he probably panicked and may well have regurgitated some of his previous meal which exacerbated the problem."

He told Miss Thorne: "I know there is nothing I can say will console you. I would like to give you my deepest sympathy.

"All parents will identify with the sheer panic you must have felt when you realised Jack was missing and discovered in those circumstances."