A mother told a courtroom today how she found her three-year-old son dying in the family bath tub after she left him for up to 15 minutes to do her washing.
Sahrish Idris, 28, discovered Aayan Ishaq lying unconscious in the water with his Peppa Pig toys after she returned from folding clothes.
Paramedics were called to the family home in Rusholme, Manchester, but Aayan was pronounced dead in hospital despite efforts to revive him.
Sahrish Idris, 28, told the inquest how she discovered her son Aayan Ishaq, 3, lying unconscious in the water with his Peppa Pig toys after she returned from folding clothes
It was initially thought he had drowned but tests were later unable to establish how he had died.
His mother Idris was later charged with manslaughter following a police investigation when it emerged Aayan had swallowed three of his mother’s sleeping tablets a year before the accident.
But her subsequent pleas to the lesser charges of child neglect were accepted and she was given a suspended jail sentence.
Today at an inquest into the little boy’s death the housewife relived the tragedy that had occurred on Mothering Sunday in 2017.
She told the Manchester hearing: ‘He decided he wanted a bath and I ran a bath for him.
‘I then went downstairs to get his clothes which were all folded downstairs. I had out three lots in the machine that day and they were all folded downstairs.
‘It had been a sunny day and I’d put three lots of washing on and had brought the washing in.
‘Aayan enjoyed having baths and it was about 9pm which is his bedtime.
‘He got his Peppa Pig toys and put them in the bath. He was sat down playing in the water… I filled the bath to his chest and I sat with him for five or ten minutes then I went downstairs to get his clothes.
‘The washing was all in the front room downstairs. I was folding some clothes as well.
‘I couldn’t hear anything but I returned upstairs and I found him lying in the bath.
‘I think he was facing up, I’m not really sure – it’s a long way back and I tried to block that day out.
The coroner, John Hobson, today recorded an open verdict over her son Aayan’s death
‘I pulled him out the water and took him into the bedroom. I was on the phone to the ambulance and drying him at the same time.
‘They told me to do CPR, I was so scared, I was panicking and I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do any mouth to mouth. Then the ambulance came and took over.
‘I unplugged and took the water out. I don’t know why I did it. The toys were still there’.
She added: ‘He was a lovely little boy, he had recently started nursery and was there 15 hours a week, he really enjoyed going there, he loved playing out and playing with his mates.
‘He always listened to me. He was a perfect little boy.’
Dr Melanie Newbold, a consultant paediatric pathologist, said: ‘In the toxicologist report, nothing was found that could have led to his death.
‘There was one drug found, midazolam, but at a very low level.
‘I’m not sure how that got in his system but it could have been given as part of the attempt to resuscitate. The medical cause of death is unascertained – there was no evidence of serious injury.’
Paramedic David Kelly said: ‘At 11.36pm our vehicle received a message regarding a three-year-old child who had a cardiac arrest.
‘When we arrived the mother opened the door and was in a distressed state.
‘We came into the bedroom and saw a small, petite boy on the right side of the bed.
‘There were no signs of life. Aayan’s mother was very upset.
‘She explained she put him in the bath and left him and went downstairs and folded clothes for ten to fifteen minutes. There were no signs of injury.’
Paul Devine a senior police coroner’s Officer said: ‘Aayan was said to have drowned in the bath and this triggered a special procedure investigation.
‘The night duty detective went back to the address and examined the scene to make sure there was nothing untoward.
‘The officer noted there was no water in the bath but there were some toys and there was some folded laundry in the front room. An investigation was launched and enquires were made.
‘As a result of that Aayan’s mother was interviewed under caution.
‘She was charged with an offence and appeared before the Crown Court in Manchester.
‘She was charged with manslaughter but the pathology report closed that pathway and she was charged with a count of child neglect and she pleaded guilty to that. There were no injuries and police ruled out foul play’.
Idris was given six months jail suspended for two years at her court case in 2017 after neighbours, friends and family insisted she had a close relationship with the child
Valerie Charles who carried out a serious case review for the Manchester Safeguarding Children’s Board said: ‘There wasn’t really anything that could have prevented or premeditated this situation.
‘There wasn’t a huge amount of involvement with the family in this period and they didn’t come to the attention of the agency very frequently.
‘The mother’s presentation was genuine and positive and what was known of this child was positive.’
Coroner John Hobson today recorded an open verdict over Aayan’s death.
At her court case in 2017 the hearing was told a month after the boy’s death Idris was herself admitted to hospital after she was found with ten razor blades in her handbag having earlier vowed to throw herself off a motorway bridge.
She told officers: ‘Something serious happened that night, something serious, but I can’t say as you are the police’.
It was later claimed she also told a nurse Aayan had not even had a bath on the day of the tragedy and added: ‘I’ve told too many lies, nobody knows the truth about the day my son passed.’
She was alleged to have told a second nurse: ‘It’s the guilt because of what I did, you know, it’s my fault I’ve not been truthful with police, they think he slipped in the bath, he didn’t even have a bath that day.’
And it was said she told the nurse she had previously given sleeping tablets to Aayan saying she ‘just wanted to see what would happen’.
She said ‘a thought just came into my mind to do it’, it was claimed.
Idris was given six months jail suspended for two years after neighbours, friends and family insisted she had a close relationship with the child.
The serious case review found she had a history of depression and self-harming and had previous abused cocaine, cannabis and alcohol before she was married.
She had met Aayan’s father on an online dating site but she left him – claiming he was verbally and physically abusive towards her.