Father's horror at finding daughter, two, hanging from window blind cord in her bedroom

-Blind's loop string had got tangled around toddler Emily Warner's neck
-Father Jamie Warner, 30, thought she was just looking out of the window
-Emily was left brain damaged for three months before her death
-Her family have since campaigned against dangerous window blinds

By RYAN KISIEL and JAMES ALLCOCK

The inquest at Hatfield Coroner's Court heard Emily's father Jamie Warner found the two-year-old unconscious in her bedroom

A father yesterday told how his family was ‘broken’ by the death of their two-year-old daughter after she trapped her neck in the cord of a window blind.
Two-year-old Emily Warner was left paralysed and suffered brain damage.
She died months later following breathing and heart problems.

Tragic: Emily Warner who died after she was accidentally hanged by a window blind cord at her home in Royston, Hertfordshire

Speaking after an inquest yesterday her father Jamie, 30, said: ‘Emmie was the light of our lives, such a wonderful little girl.
‘There is no one thing that is responsible, it was an accident. We didn’t see any danger because we weren’t looking.’
The little girl had been put to bed, but stood up on the end of her bed-frame and was climbing across her window sill when the accident happened.
Mr Warner found her hanging unconscious on her tiptoes when he walked past her room a few minutes later.

Emily's father Jamie Warner, 30, has launched a campaign with his family against unsafe blind cords (left) and Emily, with her grandfather Graham Warner (right), after the accident when she was left brain damaged for three months

He attempted to resuscitate her as his wife called an ambulance.
The tragedy happened on the evening of August 27 last year at the family home in Royston, Hertfordshire.
Emily remained in a coma in hospital for a week. When she came round she was left unable to walk, talk or feed herself because her brain had been starved of oxygen.

Despite doctors observing on the previous day that she was improving, she died in hospital following breathing problems and a heart attack on December 1.
At least 19 children have died since 1999 in similar circumstances to Emily’s. Yesterday, Hertfordshire Coroner’s Court heard how Mr Warner and his wife Tracey, who also have a four-year-old son, James, could ‘have done nothing more’.
A verdict of accidental death was recorded.

Speaking after the accident, but before Emily’s death, Mr Warner said: ‘James had been naughty so he had been sent to bed at the same time as Emily.
‘When I went to tell him off for making a noise, I checked in on her. Then I saw her hanging by the window. If James hadn’t been sent to bed early I might not have gone to check on her in time.’
The hearing comes after toddler Arthur Winfield, also two, had a similar accident with a blind cord in his bedroom in Markyate, Hertfordshire, on January 5. He died in hospital five days later.

Since the tragedy, the Warners have helped to promote the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and British Blind and Shutter Association’s Make It Safe campaign.
It is calling for improvements to safety standards in blinds, such as chain-break connections, to prevent further deaths.
The couple told how the day after the accident they replaced all their vertical blinds with net curtains.
Mr Warner, who works for a chemical manufacturer said: ‘We don’t want other families to suffer in the way we have.
'By taking some simple steps with your blinds you can protect your children.’
Coroner Edward Thomas told the Warners: ‘This is so awful. I applaud you for trying to help other people.’

source: dailymail