Inquest Hears How Toddler Hung By Blind Cord

An inquest into the death of a two-year-old girl heard how the daughter of one of Britain’s richest men died after becoming entangled in the cord of a window blind.

Alexandra Hoegh died in her top-floor room at the family's four-storey house in Notting Hill, in west London, last October.

The inquest heard the toddler was found by her nanny, Melinda De La Cruz, when she went to wake her from an afternoon nap while her mother, Dana Hoegh, chatted to a friend downstairs in the kitchen.

Westminster coroner's court heard how police had found her and her friend, Catherine Mathiesen, crying in the street as paramedics fought to revive the child.

Hoegh told the inquest the nanny, a Filipina who trained in childcare in her native country but did not complete the course, had arrived late for work, at 1.50pm. She took over from her mother, Andrea, who cleaned and helped nanny for the Hoeghs, apologised to Hoegh, and then went upstairs to get the toddler at around 2.10pm.

"A couple of minutes after that, we heard a scream, then another scream," Hoegh told the inquest.

"We went to the door of the kitchen and met Melinda with Alexandra.

"She was blue. She was not breathing.

"I ran downstairs into the street. I asked my friend Catherine to call an ambulance and started mouth-to-mouth on her [Alexandra] on the pavement."

She added that Alexandra's colour came back straight away from the cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The child was a little sick but responded no further. She was taken to St Mary's hospital, Paddington, where she was pronounced dead at 3.17pm.

The coroner, Dr Fiona Wilcox, recorded a verdict of accidental death.

Giving the cause of death as asphyxiation caused by hanging, Dr Wilcox said Dana Hoegh had been "extraordinarily brave" to give evidence.

"Alexandra died as a result of an accidental suspension after unfortunately becoming tangled with a window blind cord next to her crib," she said.

"This is a tragic and appalling death, and I cannot imagine how her family must feel.

"I will make inquiries with the HSE to find out whether such blinds already have warnings on them, with the risk of becoming entangled with children causing such deaths."

The inquest heard the beaded blind cord was within Alexandra's reach if she stood up in the cot.

Alexandra's father, Morten Hoegh, 39, is the chairman of Hoegh LNG, a multibillion-pound oil- and gas-shipping company based in Norway.

(H/GK)