Thames baby: Rescuer tells of harrowing moment he saw a tiny hand in the water

The full horror of a couple's desperate struggle to save a drowning baby was revealed yesterday as the little girl lost her fight for life.



Police named the ten-month-old as Monica Parsons, who had fallen into the Thames with her mother and three-year-old sister.



Last night her parents Maria, 38, and Nigel, a 44-year-old financier, were trying to come to terms with how their youngest daughter was brought 'back from the dead' only to succumb later in hospital.



Frantic: John West, who was boating with his wife Sue, spotted the baby girl's hand in the water and rescued her limp body from the fast-flowing river

Police had announced Monica's death after doctors gave up hope, but two hours later hospital staff found a faint pulse.



Cruelly, 12 hours after that, Monica passed away just before midnight on Wednesday.

Yesterday, John and Sue West, who were on a boating holiday, told how they spotted the baby's hand poking above the surface of the Thames at Goring, Oxfordshire.

Tragic: Forensic teams work near to where the family fell in the river. The baby girl died overnight after initially staging a miraculous recovery

A police forensic photographer carries evidence bags, including one containing a baby's buggy, away from the scene

Mr West, 55, a music lecturer and a first aid teacher, said: 'At first we heard a screech and we thought it was an animal, then we heard a woman screaming and shouting, "Help! My baby, my baby!".



'We saw her in the water, by the bank, holding a toddler in her arms 'She was in shock and we were asking her, "Is there another child?".

Then we saw a tiny hand floating in the river about ten yards away. 'I threw on a life jacket and dived into the water. I pulled the baby out and I swam with her, holding her up. I held her in one hand and grabbed a branch with my other hand.

'I'm a really strong swimmer butthe current was fierce. The baby was blue and I recognised her as going into hypothermia.

'There were no signs of life whatsoever and I could not administer any CPR at all because, if I had, I would have had to let go of the branch I was holding and we would have both gone under.'



He added there was fluid leaking from the girl's nose and mouth.

Drama: The incident happened at Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, just yards from George Michael's house (pictured)

From the deep: An officer holds what may be a toy

His wife said Mrs Parsons, who is Spanish, could not explain what had happened.



She was walking with her youngest two daughters shortly after her eldest, Sylvia, five, was dropped off at primary school.



The Parsons live half a mile from the scene of the tragedy in a £1.5million detached four-bedroom house in Streatley-on-Thames, opposite Mr Parson's parents Peter and Margaret.

They were all too upset to comment last night. Mr Parsons is the director or vicepresident of 64 companies, mainly specialising in technology.

Parents at the Streatley Church of England Primary School attended by Sylvia were told of the death as they dropped off their children.

Headmistress Jill Hopgood said: 'We are a small village school and a tragedy such as this is felt by the entire community. 'Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and we are working closely with the children to comfort them and help them come to terms with what has happened.'