Barry Owen tried to resuscitate Millie but she died in hospital A one-year-old girl died accidentally after climbing upstairs and into a bath while her mother was asleep downstairs, a coroner has decided. Millie Louise Jones's mother Sian Jones was asleep and her father Barry Owen was outside when she got in the bath at her home in Shotton, Flintshire. The bath had water in after being run the night before and she drowned. The coroner heard the family were investigated by police and social services but no charges were brought. The inquest heard it was not uncommon for Ms Jones to run a bath the night before, then top it up with hot water when needed. One morning last October, Mr Owen left the house to collect some tools from his shed, leaving Millie inside the house with her sleeping mother. In a police statement he said: "I left Millie feeding herself with a bottle in the lounge and my partner was half asleep on the sofa." The inquest was told that he then heard his partner shout from the back door: "I hope you've got Millie." Hospital The pair then searched the house and the child was discovered in the bath water. Mr Owen tried to resuscitate Millie but she later died at Liverpool's Alder Hey Hospital, the inquest heard. A pathologist said she died of major organ failure as the result of immersion. The inquest heard that the parents were investigated by North Wales Police and social services. A quantity of ecstasy and amphetamines "of various sorts" was found in the house but no charges were brought. Ms Jones had a history of depression, according to evidence from her GP, but her children "always appeared well cared for and she always spoke to them in the appropriate manner". I as a father empathise with you in your loss, totally

Coroner, John Hughes At one point during the inquest she appeared upset and told the coroner: "I don't think it's fair that you should be asking me this. "You are making me go through something that was the worst thing in my life." John Hughes, the north east Wales coroner told her he was duty-bound to establish how Millie died, adding: "I can not compel you to say things that will get you into trouble with the law." Ms Jones replied she didn't like "going over it again in my head". Delivering a verdict of accidental death, Mr Hughes said Millie may have used an item close to the bath to climb in. He told the parents that it was a tragedy that a "little innocent girl" should die in this way. He added: "I as a father empathise with you in your loss, totally."



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