Boy, 3, dies in garden pond tragedy

A three-year-old boy died after being found face down in a neighbour's garden pond, police said today.

Officers were alerted after the boy, who has yet to be officially named, disappeared from a house in Victoria Street, Dover, Kent on Saturday morning.

A Kent Police spokesman said: "Police carried out a search of the area and found the boy in a neighbouring garden, face down in a pond.

"An officer attempted emergency first aid and the boy was taken by ambulance to the William Harvey Hospital where he was sadly pronounced dead."

Police said the boy's death was not being treated as suspicious.

Edward Sedgwick, who lives in Victoria Street, said the boy's family frantically searched the neighbourhood after the child went missing on Saturday morning.

He said: "We were told that the little boy had wandered off and his family were immediately out looking for him.

"The next thing we knew was that he'd been found but he was hurt.

"A helicopter turned up shortly after that and we heard about an hour later that the child had died."