Tragic Swansea toddler drowned at family estate

CCTV from the property showed Finley leaving the property and walking towards the pond area. The youngster is believed to have wandered out of a set of French doors, fallen and drowned at the country estate in Maesycrugiau Manor near Pencader in Carmarthenshire.

At the end of a three year investigation a coroner has recorded a verdict of accidental death.

The inquest held at Llanelli Town Hall this morning heard that Finley had been staying at his mother Alexandria Lewis’ family home, built on the ruins of an Elizabethan castle.

On the day of the accident in May 2021, both his mother and grandmother, Mary, each believed he was with the other person.

Coroner’s officer Hayley Rogers said police had received an emergency call “from a distressed female stating that she was unable to find her 18-month-old son”.

Emergency services were then called to the property some five miles north of the village of Pencader. Around 45 minutes later Finley was found but was ‘unresponsive’ in the water.

A senior CID officer from Dyfed-Powys Police said the death was treated from the outset as ‘sudden and unexplained’ and that ‘nothing within the information or evidence gathered suggests foul play or third party involvement’.

Following the death, a post mortem was carried out at St Michael’s Hospital in Bristol by paediatric pathologist Dr Andrew Bamber, who concluded that Finley’s cause of death was drowning.

Concluding the inquest, acting senior coroner for Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, Paul Bennett, said:

“There can be nothing more tragic than the death of a young child. In every sense of the phrase this was a tragic accident.

“Parents can never be expected to be at their children’s side constantly. It cannot be suggested in this case that this outcome arose due to any failures.”

Mr Bennett concluded that Finley died as a result of drowning and that his death was an accident.

[Lead image: Carmarthenshire County Council]