Girl's Death At New Forest Campsite A 'Tragic Incident'

Posted: 6/04/2012 22:14 Updated: 7/04/2012 10:31   PA

New Forest Death
The six year old's death is no longer being treated as suspicious

Two people arrested in connection with the death of a six-year-old girl have been released without charge after a post-mortem examination found it was a tragic accident.

The pair - a 30-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman, both from Gosport in Hampshire - were detained on suspicion of murder after the youngster was discovered "fitting" at the Holmsley campsite in the New Forest, Hampshire, on Friday.

She suffered a cardiac arrest in the early hours of the morning and was rushed to Southampton General Hospital but was pronounced dead a short time later.

The campsite was the scene of intense police activity all day as scene of crime officers examined the family-sized tent the girl was staying in.

Investigations will now continue to find out exact circumstances of the death.

A Hampshire Police spokeswoman said: "The results of a post-mortem examination conducted at Southampton General Hospital have indicated that there are no suspicious circumstances.

"The arrests made this morning were necessary as a result of a report from experienced medical professionals.

"The girl's death is no longer being treated as suspicious but a tragic incident. An investigation into the cause of the girl's death is ongoing.

"As with all investigations into the death of a child we will now be working with partner agencies to support the family throughout the investigation process."

Police were called to the campsite at 12.50am by paramedics who found the little girl was "fitting and not breathing".

The girl's mother and father were reportedly giving her CPR when medical staff arrived.

The arrested pair were quizzed by detectives for most of the day as around 40 officers worked on the circumstances surrounding the death.

One witness, who did not want to be named, said she was woken by the sound of screams and someone repeatedly pressing a car horn before police and paramedics arrived at the scene.

The death has left the mood at the campsite very sombre with many campers hoping to enjoy the Easter break deciding to leave early.

The Camping and Caravanning Club's director general Robert Louden said: "We were saddened to hear the tragic news earlier today and have since been assisting the police with their ongoing investigations.

"On behalf of the club I would personally like to thank our holiday site managers, assistants and campers on site at Holmsley for their full co-operation and compassion, and our thoughts are very much with the little girl's family and friends at this difficult time."

The campsite hopes to reopen on Sunday for new arrivals and police will remain in the vicinity for the next 24 hours to reassure visitors to the site and the local community

The identification of the youngster is now expected to be released by police on Saturday.

FOLLOW UK

Two people arrested in connection with the death of a six-year-old girl have been released without charge after a post-mortem examination found it was a tragic accident. The pair - a 30-year-old ma...
Two people arrested in connection with the death of a six-year-old girl have been released without charge after a post-mortem examination found it was a tragic accident. The pair - a 30-year-old ma...
Filed by David Hobbs  | 
 
 
  • Comments
  • 115
  • Pending Comments
  • 0
  • View FAQ
Post Comment Preview Comment
To reply to a Comment: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to.
View All
Favorites
Recency  | 
Popularity
Page: 1 2 3  Next ›  Last »  (3 total)
11:38 PM on 04/07/2012
.... and the parent's DNA is now on file forever.
08:59 PM on 04/07/2012
just what you need when your child tragically dies. clodhopping coppers arresting you on suspicion of her murder! nice one plod.
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Barbara Longstaff
03:48 PM on 04/07/2012
What a tragedy for the family and the poor little girl may she Rest in Peace. My heart goes out to the little girl's Mother and Father they must be absolutely devastated. I will light a candle for the little girl tonight in church as it is the Holy Vigil tonight with the Service of Light. God Bless her.
03:35 PM on 04/07/2012
The report says the parents were detained on suspicion of murder - either the reporter got this totally wrong or there were suspicious circumstances.
The police, while not perfect, would surely not arrest bereaved parents without some sort of evidence.
I suspect that , once again, the report is totally misleading.
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
wincanton man
04:11 PM on 04/07/2012
Your faith in the police is touching but naive.
08:56 PM on 04/07/2012
i love your comment! clearly you are as cynical about the boys in blue as i am!
04:17 PM on 04/07/2012
There is a huge gap from being "Detained" or "Arrested" why is everyone missing this point?

They had to detain the parents "in case they did do something to her"

If She had a fit before she would have had medication with her to counter this!

If on the other hand this was her first ever fit then she would not have had medication on her
also armed with this infomation the police where duty bound to "DETAIN" the parents for futher questioning.

I would also assume that she most likely had been checked for marks of any sort to cause this to happen.

Why has everyone had a hard time dealing with this fact?

The Media(local no doubt) are the ones who deamonised these poor parents by reporting in an incorrect manor i would think.
02:51 PM on 04/07/2012
So sad that this little girl has died.. bless her xx. My sympathys to the family. absolutly awful. I will never forget this and I didnt even know the family...There are no words of comfort but just for the family to know that they are being thought of and prayed for
02:34 PM on 04/07/2012
it,s so sad that your child dies, but to be slandered all over the media on top is dreadful, couldnt the police have handled this a little bit more sympatheticlly,the circumstances are not really known yet but there is no foul play, what was this paramedic thinking of setting alarm bells ringing. we need police and medical staff but some times they get it wrong, my heart and sympathy go to these poor parents
03:36 PM on 04/07/2012
@Jones, The fault is not with the Paramedic's they acted in the correct manor,
The police handled it in a correct manor as well, what else where they suposed to do
as the parents are always the first in line of enquiries...what was wrong was the manor of the media geting hold of this story and demonising the parents with out thinking first as to the corect way the police do things and yes the media do know how this all works.
So if you wish to have ago at anyone it should be the media!
My thoughts go out to the childs family at this terrible time may they find some sort of comfort.
09:58 AM on 04/08/2012
well said (but the word is manner.......manor is a large house)
This comment has been removed.
02:27 PM on 04/07/2012
Didn't anyone stop and think what those poor parents were going through, not only had they lost their daughter, but they were being treated like they were being blamed for it! How awful for them being questioned all day when all they probably wanted to do was sob their hearts out, god knows what was going through their heads! I couldn't imagine losing a child, let alone going through what they went through! Shame on the police for not letting them have at least a day before taking them in. If they had waited they probably would not have had to anyway! And as for medical staff, how many times have they got it wrong? They are always quick to blame the parents, but when it is in fact the parents, they let them go, and most of the time it ends in a fatality.
03:49 PM on 04/07/2012
Protocol is the word here as aI stated earlier the paramedic's reacted in the correct way.
The police also reacted in the correct way as with any unexplained death they have to determine quickly if the parents where to blame.....Leaving it a day later is no good you must strike fast and asap.
the people to blame for all this hype is the media who should never have pointed the finger at the parents in the first place without having good hard facts given to them at the time,i would imagine that the local media got the story first and then to cash in on it they went and gave it to other media outlets....shame on them!!
02:14 PM on 04/07/2012
What a terrible thing to happen on what was to be a happy camping trip.
02:04 PM on 04/07/2012
I used to be a Police Doctor. We give an opinion based on our initial examination and findings and aim to guide the Police to take the correct action. The Doctor felt further action was required therefore did the right thing at the time. Not all deaths are 'innocent'. Failure to take the correct action means that crucial evidence can be lost. It sounds like the parents were completely innocent. But the Police have a duty to properly investigate serious cases like the death of a child which we will all agree is a tragedy
02:47 PM on 04/07/2012
I do not have a problem with the police doing their job, what I have a problem with is they was arrested, not taken in for further inquires but arrested and cautioned on the incorrect observations of medical person who for all intense and purpose was wrong. The police if worried about it being a murder attempt should of took them in for questioning, but arresting them based on the above evidence was disgusting.
03:27 PM on 04/07/2012
Intents
03:28 PM on 04/07/2012
sorry but i agree with steve on this.
Legal teams have a field day with the police if they do not investigate any allegation at a later date.
Like it or not they have to investigate suspicious deaths, and that means from the moment it 'appears' that there is no simple clinical evidence to suggest it was 'natural causes'.
At this point neither you nor I know exactly what was suggested to the police that led to the decision to arrest the parents.
02:47 PM on 04/07/2012
Well said, Exactly the case.
01:37 PM on 04/07/2012
" The arrests made this morning were necessary as a result of a report from experienced medical proffesionals"
So all those below criticising the Plod for making the arrests, would presumably have ignored the information provided to them and not made an arrest ?
Those referring to the police as 'Pigs' really show themselves up as rather childish and immature.
The lack of knowledge on the full facts of this tragic situation,are still not known.
Already the name caling and mud slinging starts................ what a great country we now live in !
02:14 PM on 04/07/2012
They certainly should not have made an arrest. The medical professionals can't have been that experienced, otherwise they wouldn't have given an opinion that was so quickly countered by the post mortem.

Whilst I do not know for sure, the two arrested may have been the parents. The trauma of losing your child must be huge but then to be wrongly arrested for their murder on the flimsiest of evidence would be enough to drive many to breakdown.

It was completely unacceptable behaviour by the police and I hope that those responsible face the strongest possible disciplinary action.

The police are too quick to arrest with even the most flimsy of connections these days. Take that schoolteacher who was arrested for murder, only for another person to be convicted later.

The only evidence was that he was her landlord, yet the police arrested him and despite being completely innocent, the gutter press made him out to be some sort of demon. Fortunately he got a good settlement in the courts but it shouldn't have been neccessary and in no way mitigates the police's behaviour.
02:27 PM on 04/07/2012
Agree 100%.
02:35 PM on 04/07/2012
You are wrong. There is no account here as to just why the child died, There is a reference to 'a tragic accident' but nothing more.

We do not know the details so we cannot pass judgement as to why the police took the action they did.It all happened late at night in what was undoubtedly a confused and emotional situation. Clearly there is more to this tragic incident than we know right now.
01:14 PM on 04/07/2012
Sympathies to the family, of course. But regarding the reactions shown below:-
Have you not stopped to think that many parents, guardians, and so called 'friends' are capable of harming a child in their care? Had this happened, and the police not explored every avenue, the whole country would be up in arms. Because disturbed people do 'bad things', do you not realise that the police have a procedure to follow to cover every situation? Due to irresponsible emotive outbursts and responses (see below,) it appears that the police cannot win whatever they do.
01:10 PM on 04/07/2012
The police always make arrests on the slightest pretense these-days so as to give them the right to get a DNA sample for the police DNA database. The collection of DNA would appear to be the prime existence of the police now. These people that were arrested over this incident will now have a the devil of a job getting the DNA removed from the database and the other records expunged.
01:54 PM on 04/07/2012
I assume you are mentally challenged.
02:13 PM on 04/07/2012
Well put.
02:22 PM on 04/07/2012
I assume you are a policeman or other government flunky.
12:56 PM on 04/07/2012
When the dust settles & these poor parents have had sufficient time to grieve for their daughter & try to come to terms with what happened, I hope they employ a good lawyer & sue the pants of the local police & the so called medical expert who raised suspicions. I suspect there is a detective pushing for promotion & trying to impress who went at this case like a bull in a china shop. Most detectives with a brain, if they exist in reality, would have waited several days & after the post-mortem before interviewing the parents. They weren't exactly going to leave the country. I'm beginning to think the main attributes required to join the police force today are having the IQ of an amoeba, social skills of Dereck Chisora, and fitness levels of Rik Waller. It's also about time the police kept their mouths shut until all the facts are known & corroborated. It makes you wonder who's in control sometimes, the police or the media?
01:17 PM on 04/07/2012
I can only assume from your post that you are in posession of the full facts about this case ?
The police are dammed if they do and dammed if they don't in cases like these.
Just so you are aware (though in your case i suspect there is no subject, on which you are not an expert) arrests are made at an early point in sutuations such as this, to obtain and preserve evidence. Whatever was said to the police at the first contact with the family, and others who were present, must have given reasonable grounds for an arrest to be made.
Given the nature of your post, I do not doubt that you would have been advocating the hanging, decapitation etc. of the 'suspect' when this first came to light. Now the release has been made you suggest the family 'sue the pants off the Police'.
People like you make me sick to the stomache.
You have little or no knowledge of any of the events in this case, yet feel qualified to spout off about the rights and wrongs.
Shame on you !
01:43 PM on 04/07/2012
I cannot agree with you more your reply was spot on to that person.
02:59 PM on 04/07/2012
I am very critical of the police on a number of things but on this I agree with you 100%.

Had they ignored suspicions by professionals and then it turned out days later that there was foul play (after crucial evidense had been cleared) all hell would have broke loose and we would all have been demanding the heads of senior officers involved.
12:34 PM on 04/07/2012
i first would like to say how sad this is just going on an brake to spend time together and then your child is taken ill and dies then you get arrested for her murder what is going on here the poor pair this is so unfair and so sad my haret go s out to them