Toddler drowned in pond while her family tended to horses | UK News

A two-year-old girl fell and drowned in a pond while her mum and grandma tended to horses instead of watching her.

Toddler Masie Lomax-Newton was playing at her family’s farm when the tragedy occurred.

CCTV footage of her last moments shows the youngster splashing in puddles, running back and forth around the farm and joining her gran before going to the pond herself.

She was unsupervised for around 30 minutes when she fell into the water, which was surrounded by a partially collapsed fence, the MEN reported.

After falling into the pond she spent approximately 19 minutes in the water before being noticed by her family.

She was rushed to hospital but died the next day.

Her mum, Emma Lomax-Newton, 30, and gran Cindy Molyneux, 52, previously pleaded guilty to child neglect at Manchester Crown Court, after the judge indicated they would not be jailed for the crime.

Prosecutor Rachel Shenton told the court that on November 8 2021, two-year-old Masie and her one-year-old brother were taken by Lomax-Newton and Molyneux to Crab Fold Farm in Atherton for their regular daily visit. They kept six horses there, and also looked after other horses belonging to other people, the prosecutor said.

The family arrived around 10am, before carrying out various errands such as mucking the horses out, cleaning the paddocks and general maintenance. Masie could be seen on the CCTV playing by herself, splashing in puddles and sitting on a bench near to the pond, according to the Manchester Evening News.

Ms Shenton detailed a few occasions when Masie was out of sight of both women for a number of minutes whilst playing around the farm, before coming back into view. 

The prosecutor said: ‘There was plastic fencing around the pond area, though it appeared to be down in one particular area. Masie was seen there alone for four minutes between 12.18pm and 12.23pm, splashing in puddles.

‘At 12.22pm she then goes back to the farm and is playing by herself before wandering towards a muck heap. Then from 12.47pm to 12.59pm she is seen walking to the right side of the pond before falling in.’

Footage showed Masie’s gran searching for the tot before they found her in the pond.

Emergency services were called and Masie was taken to the Royal Oldham Hospital where she was treated for a global hypoxic brain injury.

She sadly died on December 1, with her cause of death being recorded as bronchopneumonic brain injury as a result of drowning.

Both women were interviewed by police, with Molyneux admitting that Masie had been out of her sight for 10 minutes.

She later said that she had a large responsibility for looking after the children and said she did not see Masie by the pond. Lomax-Newton maintained that her mum looked after the children whilst on the farm, and said she had seen Masie 10 minutes before they found her.

Neither woman had any previous convictions.

Whilst no statement was read in open court on behalf of the family, the judge said the wider family had been significantly affected, though to a ‘greater extent’ the defendants were affected themselves.

Mitigating for Molyneux, Rachel Cooper said the harm caused was ‘permanent and palpable’ and the family had to live with Masie’s loss, beyond any sentence.

She added: ‘A child left unsupervised for one minute can cause themselves serious harm, just as a child left for half an hour may come to no harm at all’.

Judge Nicholas Dean KC, presiding over the case, said: ‘What happened here could have happened to almost any mother or grandmother, even the most caring and careful. 

‘There is an element of neglect here but punishment lies in the consequence of that neglect and the fact of the prosecution. It’s a human frailty. There was no malevolence here, just a caution that you cannot ever be too careful.’

Ms Cooper added that there was no suggestion that Masie was ‘anything other than a loved, wanted and cared for child’. As a consequence of her death, social services became involved and found Molyneux to be a ‘loving and dedicated grandmother’, and said the entire family have supported both women.

Judge Dean described the incident as ‘unconscious complacency’, in which one parent or guardian thinks the other is supervising, then that is actually not the case.

Gwen Henshaw, mitigating for Lomax-Newton, said: ‘What actually happened that day was that each of the defendants thought Masie was being looked after by the other and they were unable to keep a proper accurate record. She has been punished beyond any sentence the court can impose.’

The barrister said Masie was described as a ‘bright, loving, bubbly child who enjoyed books, singing and dancing’. ‘She was a much wanted and loved child,’ she said.

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