Tonight:
5°c
Three-year-old boy dies in garden pond tragedy
26 May 2009A three-year-old boy died after being found face down in a neighbour's garden pond, police said today.
Officers were alerted after the boy, who has been named by police as Freddie Watmough, disappeared from a house in Victoria Street, Dover, Kent on Saturday morning.
A Kent Police spokesman said: "Police carried out a search of the area and found the boy in a neighbouring garden, face down in a pond.
"An officer attempted emergency first aid and the boy was taken by ambulance to the William Harvey Hospital where he was sadly pronounced dead."
Police said the boy's death was not being treated as suspicious.
Edward Sedgwick, who lives in Victoria Street, said the boy's family frantically searched the neighbourhood after the child went missing on Saturday morning.
He said: "We were told that the little boy had wandered off and his family were immediately out looking for him.
"The next thing we knew was that he'd been found but he was hurt.
"A helicopter turned up shortly after that and we heard about an hour later that the child had died."
Reader views (6)
Even though he is my cousin i have to agree, ponds shouldn't be outlawed.. Parents should be teaching there children wrong from right.. Unfortunatly Freddie could not be taught water was dangerous as he had autism, His mother + father have now luckally had a second child after 2 miscarriges, shes a beautiful baby girl who is now 1years old she also sadly has autism but the family are doing everything to supoort her and stop themselfs from losing a second child <33
- Shannon, Kent, 15/09/2011 16:29
Report abuse
"Outlawed" Mike from London, garden ponds should be "outlawed". What a stupid thing to say. What planet are you on? Why not then 'outlaw' roads outside houses with fast cars on them (they can kill unsupervised toddlers)rivers and streams, the sea, garden bonfires and barbecues,almost every implement inside a house and in the garden, plastic bags, bicycles, dogs..all can kill a child...and the list goes on and on.
- Judith C, London, England, 26/05/2009 19:33
Report abuse
Mike, what nonsense to say we should outlaw garden ponds! Why on earth should I not be able to own a pond on the grounds that maybe someone else's children might trespass on my property?
Perhaps we should legislate parental behaviour to ensure that their own properties have enough child-safe locks on the doors and windows and/or that they actually look after their own offspring properly instead of expecting everyone else to "childproof" everything.
- Maz, London, 26/05/2009 18:50
Report abuse
@mike
Well done with your stats. Currently every two hours someone will spout utter nonsense about something. I think garden ponds should be outlawed, along with garden vegetables. How many children can you think of who have been cruelly subjected to, say, home-grown brocolli?
- Alan Potter, London, UK, 26/05/2009 18:29
Report abuse
This story is so sad and I feel for the parents but even more 'nany state' health & safety laws Mike is not the answer.
- Matthew, Ware, Herts, 26/05/2009 16:54
Report abuse
On average one person a month drowns in garden ponds in this country, and I expect nearly all of them will be children.
On average every 4-5 weeks another set of parents will join those of this little boy in mourning the death of their child.
Every 4-5 weeks another family will be permanently scarred by a tragedy like this.
It's time that garden ponds were outlawed.
- Mike, London, 26/05/2009 15:37
Report abuse
