Tragedy as toddler, 3, drowns in garden pond

He had been reported missing from the home of relatives, which backs on to the house with the pond. Police launched a search and made the tragic discovery an hour later. Witnesses said policewomen wept as the body was recovered. 

Desperate attempts were made to resuscitate the boy, who has not been named, but he died later in hospital. 

The pond in Anderton Park Road in Mosely, Birmingham, where the toddler drowned

Neighbours said the youngster was visiting relatives when he went missing from the £300,000 house in Moseley, Birmingham, on Saturday afternoon. 

It is thought he was playing with his cousins when he wandered away and somehow found his way into the other garden, even though a high fence separates the two.

The family at the house where the body was found knew nothing of the tragedy until police climbed their fence to reach the boy.

The toddler lived at 38 Coppice Road in Moseley

One of them, a 72-year-old man, said: 'We are all utterly shocked. We are all grieving. 

'It was my daughter-in-law who first saw all of the commotion from the window upstairs and we ran across to see what had happened  -  it's terrible.'

The occupants of the house where the boy disappeared did not want to comment.

Police arrived at the scene in Anderton Park Road before paramedics and administered CPR

Huw Davies, 47, a civil engineer who lives opposite the property where the boy was found said: 'There were lots of police around, and I distinctly remember there being two female police officers who were crying their eyes out as the boy was brought into the ambulance.'

Another neighbour, Mohammed Riaz, said: 'People were frantic and panicking because they couldn't find him and everybody seemed to be helping them with the search.

'Before you knew it the police helicopter was hovering overhead and then an ambulance appeared outside a house and we were told the boy had been found in a pond.' 

West Midlands Police said: 'The circumstances of the boy's death are being investigated but at this stage it is not being treated as suspicious. We send our sincere condolences to his family.'

• St John Ambulance cadets made a desperate effort to save a young girl found unconscious in a swimming pool.

The seven-year-old was pulled from the pool at the Blackwater Leisure Centre in Maldon, Essex, by a member of the public on Saturday. 

The St John team, attending a judo competition at the centre, tried to revive her but she was pronounced dead in hospital. The girl, from the Isle of Dogs in East London, has not been named. 

Maldon District Council is investigating the death, but Essex police said last night a police inquiry would not be necessary.