Girls died after mother hit head

TWO LITTLE girls drowned in seven inches of water after their young mother slipped and knocked herself out while bathing them, an inquest heard yesterday. Three-year-old Natasha Russell and 18-month-old Abigail Brownsea had been playing in their bath at Alresford, Hampshire, while mother Lyn Brownsea watched.

Miss Brownsea, 21, told the inquest in Winchester, Hampshire, that she slipped and hit her head on the side of the bath as her daughters laughed and blew kisses at each other. The 21-year-old wept as she said she awoke to find both girls still and quiet in the water. "I think I reached forward to look over the bath to see the far side. I think I slipped on the floor. I think I hit [my head] on the edge of the bath."

The coroner, Mr Grahame Short, recorded verdicts of accidental death, and told her: "You did everything to look after them and you did your best."