A two-year-old girl drowned while playing in a shallow river while her father was trying to round up sheep in a neighbouring field.

Eva-Rose Wainwright drowned in the shallow brook where she had been playing with the family dog one evening in June 2023.

The coroner today, Tuesday, issued a warning about “the dangers of very young children being left unsupervised in or near very shallow water”.

An inquest at Exeter Coroner's Court heard that Eva-Rose was a healthy little girl who had gone to the farm Baaline at Lifton with her father Charles Wainwright on the day in question.

Devon Area Coroner Alison Longhorn told the hearing: "He left Eva-Rose to play in the river in the company of the family dog. He left her for between fifteen and twenty minutes.

"When the father returned he found her face down in the slow moving river unresponsive.

"Emergency services had some trouble finding the location after the alert was raised but found Eva-Rose with her father on a verge along a driveway from the farmhouse.”

Attempts to save her were unsuccessful and she died at the scene in front of her distraught mother Kyra Jo Tester who was driven to the scene by a relative.

The inquest heard that on the day in June 2023 Eva-Rose went to the farm where she had spent time before. Her father used the land for his sheep and the little girl was well and had eaten her favourite beans on toast.

The hearing was told the sheep were in a neighbouring field separated by the river which was 30cm at its maximum depth and the riverbed had rocks in it.

The coroner said Eva-Rose, who lived in Ockington Close, Okehampton, played in the shallow river throwing stones into the water.

Her father went to the field to round up the sheep and left her with the dog.

The sheep were being difficult. He checked on his daughter two or three times, the last time around ten minutes before he saw her head in the water – and he thought initially she was drinking the water.

He realised she was not moving and rushed her to the farmyard to grab his phone to raise the alert.

The incident was investigated by the police but the Crown Prosecution Service did not bring any charges.

A post mortem said Eva-Rose died from drowning and had a bruise on her forehead.

Coroner Miss Longhorn said it was a 'truly tragic death of a little girl' and issued her warning about the dangers of leaving small children unattended.

She recorded a conclusion of accidental death.