Torment of the mother whose three-year-old son died in pool

Three-year-old George Eley is thought to have wandered into PC Craig Dalby's back garden before falling into the pool.

Yesterday, his 35-year-old mother Olivia told how her family was trying to come to terms with the loss of their 'beautiful child'.

A paramedic tried to resuscitate George after he was dragged from the pool and he was then airlifted to the Great Western Hospital in Swindon.

However, 30 minutes after he was found in the water on Tuesday afternoon, he was pronounced dead.

George had been with his mother as she visited her sister, Serena Dalby, 40, at the £500,000 country home she shares with firearms officer PC Dalby and their two teenage children in the village of Bromham, Wiltshire.

Yesterday, Mrs Eley - who married her husband Michael in 2000 and lives in Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire - said: "George was a beautiful child with blond hair and blue eyes. He was a very lively little three-year-old with a great sense of humour and an amazing personality. He was always fun to be around."

Mrs Eley continued: "He was inquisitive, impulsive and astute in character.

"At times he could also be a monkey, which funnily enough was his favourite toy and Chinese birth sign. He was a loving boy who was a special child of God."

She added that George would be missed by all who knew him but especially 'by his Mummy and Daddy, family and friends'.

The 40ft pool, which is covered by a polytunnel, is near the back door of the fourbedroom detached house.

Shortly after the tragedy a neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: "I was in my garden in the afternoon and heard the screams of what appeared to be older children.

"Within minutes there was an ambulance outside the house and then I heard an emergency services helicopter landing nearby. I was then told that a little boy had fallen into the Dalbys' pool."

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George's 63-year-old father Michael Eley used to be a director of a clothing firm called Amazon (UK) Ltd.

More recently he ran another fashion retail firm called Keenstores, based in Kensington, West London.

His wife acted as company secretary for both firms.

The Dalby family moved into the house - which is set in about two acres of land - at the turn of the year.

Before that they lived in a smaller property in the village.

Yesterday, residents in Bromham, which has a population of 1,800, spoke of their shock at the accident.

Garage owner Terry Sanders, 71, who has lived in the village all his life, said: "The whole village is devastated.

"The pool is quite large and has been there for 20 years with a canopy over the top so it can be used in winter.

"For something like this to happen is a real tragedy."

Police say there were no suspicious circumstances.

Wiltshire Coroner David Masters is due to open and adjourn an inquest at Salisbury Coroner's Court today.