A TODDLER drowned in a swimming pool at his grandmother's Pedmore home, an inquest heard.

Ajay Ramesh Shourie, from Leicester, was discovered in the pool after going missing at the house in Worcester Lane on March 31.

His mother, Puja Shourie told the inquest, at Smethwick Coroners Court today (Wednesday),  that shortly before his death, she was lying down as she felt unwell.

She said her two-year-old son had wandered off while his grandmother, Asha Sharma was talking on the telephone.

Mrs Shourie told the inquest that once they realised Ajay was missing, they began searching for him and when Mrs Sharma noticed the sliding doors leading to the swimming pool were open, she went inside and found her grandson in the pool.

The inquest heard the door had been closed before Ajay disappeared but his father, Niraj Shourie, said he believed his son could have opened the door, adding: "He was a very curious child, if he saw a handle or a switch, he'd pull or press it."

DC Jill Ansell told the inquest that she had been driving along Worcester Lane at around 4.20pm, while off duty, when she noticed a woman in distress flagging down cars.

She said one driver had stopped and, realising something was wrong, she turned the car around and went to investigate.

DC Ansell said when she went inside the house, she saw Ajay on the floor, with the driver of the car trying to resuscitate him: "When I saw what was happening, I went to the other side of Ajay and made sure his airways were clear and we took it in turns to give compressions until the ambulance arrived.

"There was no way I was going to stop, I wanted to give the little boy every chance."

The inquest was told that Ajay was pronounced dead at Russells Hall Hospital and pathologist Phil Cox said he found a couple of small bruises on his forehead during the postmortem, which could suggest he slipped or fell.

Dr Cox gave the medical cause of death was dry drowning.

Senior coroner for the Black Country, Robin Balmain, said: "This is an unbelievably painful incident for the whole family, it is difficult to imagine what they are going through.

"The circumstances are perfectly clear and could have happened to any family and it is very distressing."

Mr Balmain concluded that Ajay's death was the result of an accident.