A HAMPSHIRE mother today recounted her desperate attempt to revive her toddler son after he fell into a bucket of water.

Nicola Thorne told how she pulled Jack, aged 15 months, from the large bucket, filled with only around seven and a half inches of water in the back garden of her home in Westman Road, Weeke, Winchester.

Miss Thorne told the inquest at Winchester she had searched for Jack after he had wandered off following the family's evening meal on April 20.

She told how she had searched in the garden and the house for ten minutes before one of her two other sons had said: "Jack was playing in the water."

Miss Thorne said: "I thought he meant the sprinkler. I ran outside. Jack was not there. I thought he might have gone into the shed.

"It was open. Then I turned around and he was in the bin. I picked him straight out. I put my arm around his waist and yanked him out.

"He was all blue. I started screaming and shouting at the boys to go next door and get help. I called the ambulance and was doing mouth to mouth. All I could hear was gurgling noises in his stomach."

Jack was rushed by ambulance to the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester but despite efforts to revive him he was pronounced dead that evening.

Detective Sergeant Paula Myers said there were no suspicious circumstances.

Central Hampshire Coroner Grahame Short recorded a verdict of accidental death.