A SCHOOLGIRL died after accidentally strangling herself on the ropes of a garden swing, an inquest heard.
Grace Patricia Hamnet, 11, was chatting to pals on a group video call when tragedy struck in May this year.
An inquest heard how an unconscious Grace was discovered by her horrified mum, whose screams alerted a neighbour who jumped over the fence to help, before performing CPR.
She was in cardiac arrest when the ambulance arrived at the home in Widnes, Cheshire,and attempts to resuscitate her continued during the journey to Whiston Hospital.
She was eventually stabilised and remained “deeply unconscious” before being transferred to Alder Hey in Liverpool, where she tragically passed away five days after the freak accident.
The inquest heard an MRI scan confirmed that Grace had a “devastating brain injury” with neurosurgeons concluding that there was nothing more that could be done.
Grace, who was born in Warrington, died on May 28.
An inquest into her death was held at Warrington Coroner’s Court today, where tragic details of her final chat with pals was revealed.
Written evidence from Detective Inspector Robert Lees, of Cheshire Constabulary, was also read out at the hearing.
It stated: “She had been on a group chat with school friends. They indicated that during the telephone group conversation Grace had showed them the rope and said ‘I’ll be able to put my neck through this and hang myself. She said it in a joking way.”
The hearing was told that Grace had previously said this on WhatsApp.
After stating this to her friends, Grace’s phone was left pointing to the sky and there was no further communication from her, the inquest heard.
Her friends became scared and notified their parents who contacted the relevant authorities.
DI Lees said Grace’s mum had made it clear that her daughter would not self-harm and was a happy child.
She’d just received a good school report, the hearing was told.
A Cheshire Constabulary investigation confirmed there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding Grace’s death and no third party involvement.
“There were no concerns from anyone about Grace”, said DI Lees.
Assistant coroner Heath Westerman accepted the medical cause of death – hypoxic ischaemic brain injury due to strangulation.
He said there was no evidence of intent to self-harm, and concluded that Grace’s death was accidental.
He said: “My heart goes out to Grace’s parents, in particular her mum due to the traumatic way she found her daughter in difficulty.”
Source: The Sun
