A HAMPSHIRE family were today in mourning after a toddler drowned in a pond at his home.

Two-year-old Ashley Chaney died after falling into the water in his back garden.

His father Martin, 25, pulled the youngster out of the pond after finding him face down in the water.

Neighbours tried to resuscitate him but paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.

Police described the incident as a "tragic accident".

Today Ashley's family and a safety organisation warned other parents to fill in their ponds to prevent another tragedy.

Family friend Barry Gray, 32, said the accident happened after Ashley had wandered out into the garden to enjoy the sunshine on Saturday afternoon.

Just moments later his father Martin followed him out only to find his son face down in the pond. Mr Chaney screamed for help and others rushed to the boy's aid, including Mr Gray who tried mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the child.

Emergency services were called to the house shortly after 3.30pm but Ashley was already dead.

A spokesman for Hampshire police said the boy appeared to have drowned and that a post-mortem to confirm the cause of death was likely to be conducted later this week.

She added: "Police are now investigating the circumstances for the coroner of what looks to be a tragic accident.

"The family are distraught. No one can imagine what it is like to lose a two-year-old boy."

A spokesman for Hampshire Ambulance Service said: "We were called at 3.40pm on Saturday to a two-year-old male who was in cardiac arrest.

"An emergency care doctor, a rapid response vehicle and an ambulance were all dispatched, but unfortunately the patient died at the scene."

Yesterday, there were scenes of grief and weeping outside the home as friends and relatives of the family, who have two other sons and a daughter, tried to comfort Ashley's parents.

Mr Gray said both Mr Chaney and his wife Ruth, 30, had been left devastated and that everyone who knew Ashley would miss him greatly.

He added: "We were all out in the front garden just chatting and watching people go past when someone shouted 'Have you seen Ashley?' Then I heard Martin shouting. Martin had got him out of the pond in the back garden and he was lying just two or three feet from the pond.

"I gave him mouth to mouth. I tried for a few minutes, desperately trying to help him.

"I tried my best but there was nothing I could do. There was nothing anyone could do.

"Martin called the ambulance and there were about seven other neighbours trying to bring him back."

He said Ashley must have wandered round to the back garden by the side gate while everyone was at the front of the house.

He added: "He was a great kid. Everyone's going to miss him. The family are trying to cope with what has happened. We are all trying to cope with it.

"It was the first day the kids were out enjoying the sunshine. I don't know what else to say."

Mr Gray, who lives near the Chaneys' home in Oak Road, Bursledon, is now looking after the couple's two eldest children - eight-year-old Mitchell and 11-year-old Tracy. Their youngest child, seven-month-old Riley, is with his parents.

A spokesman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said that deaths like Ashley's often occurred at this time of the year when the first warm weather appears.

He added: "Sadly, it seems almost every spring, when the weather gets a bit warmer and children go out into the garden to play, we get these tragedies.

"Eight children die in accidents of this kind every year in the UK, and almost 80 per cent happen in other people's gardens when children wander off and parents don't perhaps realise the dangers present.

"Our advice really is that the only way to make a garden 100 per cent safe is to fill in any ponds. You can put grilles over them, or a fence around them, but they don't always work.

"And unfortunately, if a child does fall into water the consequences, as in this case, can be terrible."