Boy, 4, drowns in pond after wandering away from home leaving family 'broken'
A young boy, aged four, was found lying face down in a pond by his uncle after he wandered away from the family home, an inquest heard.
Ifan Wedros Owen-Jones was playing with his sibling in and around a caravan they lived in with their parents in the Blaenffos area of Pembrokeshire on August 7 last year when he went missing.
An inquest into his death, held at the County Hall in Haverfordwest on Thursday, heard that Ifan's mother Sian fell asleep in the caravan but had heard the children playing as the door was open due to the warm weather.
Reading a report at the inquest PC James Lang-Ford of Dyfed-Powys Police said Ifan's mother "was awoken and could hear Ifan playing outside". But then he added: "She went to the toilet and came back and asked the other children where Ifan was. They searched the yard and the sheds but they could not find him."
Some distance from the caravan was a pond described at the inquest as "not massive but bigger than one you would have in your garden" and Ifan had "never tried to access the area where the pond was located". Ifan's mother drove around the land to look for Ifan and at 5pm was in tears as he could not be found.
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A verdict of accidental death was recorded (WALES NEWS SERVICE)Ifan's uncle Matthew Owen, who was also involved in the search for the little boy, was the first to arrive at the pond and could see his nephew lying face-down in the water. Ifan was unresponsive, and the Welsh Ambulance Service was called. Despite the best efforts of family and paramedics Ifan was declared dead at 6.40pm, reported WalesOnline.
The acting senior coroner for Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire, Paul Bennett, referenced a post-mortem examination carried out in the wake of Ifan's death which revealed the cause of death as drowning. He added that there was "nothing to suggest foul play or third-party involvement".
The inquest also heard that Ifan had been awaiting tests due to a suspected autism spectrum disorder and Mr Bennett said he considered such a condition to be a "significant contributory factor" and an "indirect cause" in the boy's death.
"This is undoubtedly one of those extremely distressing situations where a young child has died," he stated. "To what extent Ifan's autism spectrum disorder played a part is difficult for me to determine. It could be said that a young child of Ifan's age would not deliberately put himself in that position." Mr Bennett recorded a conclusion of accidental death and expressed his deepest sympathies to Ifan's family.
The family had paid tribute to the "beautiful, happy and healthy little boy". They said: "Ifan was a beautiful, happy, healthy little boy. He had his struggles with some things due to being autistic but he was amazing at other things.
"He loved the alphabet, counting and colours. He would watch Fireman Sam over and over. He loved climbing on anything he could find. His iPad (diamond) was his safety blanket, it went everywhere with him. Everyone who met Ifan fell in love with him, everyone adored him. He was and always will be our special little boy. We are so lost without him, Ifan was our world. We are all truly broken.
"We as a family are truly overwhelmed with the support, kindness and generosity we have received from our family, friends, local community and even people we don’t even know. We would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts."
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