Girl dies after father drops TV set on her head

A FOUR-YEAR-OLD girl died after her father dropped a television on her head causing "a catastrophic brain injury", an inquest heard today.

Emily May Hughes died on Christmas Day after a freak accident at her home the day before.

The family had bought a new television and Emily's father, Robert Hughes, a design engineer, installed it in the first-floor living room before carrying the old "heavy, deep, bulky" widescreen downstairs into the children's play area.

But unbeknown to her father as he struggled downstairs, Emily was lying on her stomach at the foot of the stairs, playing with a games console.

Mr Hughes stubbed his foot on the child and fell forward with the large television. A police report said: "He completely lost balance, fell and tried to push the TV away from the child realising she was there but it landed on her head, pinning her. He immediately got it off her."

Mr Hughes carried Emily into the kitchen where his wife, Louise Sandra Hughes, a youth co-ordinator, phoned for an ambulance.

The couple of Coedpoeth, Wrexham, tried to resuscitate their daughter until paramedics arrived at 6.20pm. Emily was taken to Wrexham Maelor Hospital and transferred to Liverpool's Alder Hey Hospital later that evening suffering from a lack of blood and oxygen to the brain.

Consultant Dr Jane Ratcliffe said Emily sustained a head fracture in the accident, and the brain damage stopped her pulse and blood pressure. Coroner Andre Rebello recorded a verdict of accidental death at the inquest, attended by just his officer, and said: "Emily will not have suffered and not have known about this injury. I pass on my sincere condolences to the family."