Annabel Mackey, 2, would go for walks holding her mum’s hand before pond death as forensic officers search family home
A TWO-YEAR-OLD girl would often go for walks holding her mum's hand, heartbroken neighbours have revealed - as forensic officers search the family home after the toddler's tragic pond death.
A woman has been detained under the Mental Health Act after she was arrested for little Annabel Mackey's murder.
The toddler was found “unresponsive” in Kingsley Pond near Bordon in Hampshire minutes after she was reported missing on Sunday.
Cops had been called to the tot's house in Forge Road at around 5.02pm that day.
An urgent hunt to find the little girl was then launched.
She was found in Kingsley Pond soon after - just 200m from her home.
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Forensic officers have been seen entering the family home, with cops standing guard outside.
A neighbour said: "We used to regularly see Alice and Annabel walking around here.
"Alice would always be holding her hand and quite often they'd walk up the Common because it's a beautiful place to walk.
"At Halloween we get a lot of decorations around the house for our little one and Annabel used to come in and look at the decorations.
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"She was gorgeous, she was a beautiful little girl. Obviously her mum was with her most of the time."
TRAGIC DEATH
Specialist officers from Hampshire Constabulary’s Marine Unit carried out an underwater search as part of the force’s ongoing murder investigation.
Three marine officers were seen crawling on their hands and knees in the water, meticulously scouring the shallow pond floor for evidence.
The specific area of Kingsley Pond the officers searched - where it is believed little Annabel was found - appeared to be little more than 1ft deep.
They used a 25ft inflatable raft on the corner of the pond as a makeshift pontoon.
Officers dressed in bright orange dry suits boarded that to scour the bottom of the pond using specialist equipment.
A metal detector was used to sweep the bottom of the pond and officers could be seen putting unidentified items into an evidence bag.
Before the dive at Kingsley Pond, a hi-tech robot was deployed in the water to examine the bottom of the pond using sonar.
The device was in the water for 30 minutes while officers stood by the side of the pond using controls to direct it around the pond.
A police drone was also flown above the water.
A female neighbour said: "We’re really upset.
"Annabel was very very quiet. Sometimes I used to walk past the garden and hear her crying, calling out mummy.
"Whenever we saw her in the village she didn’t really speak, she gave us little smiles.
"She was a sweet little girl. She was very, very quiet and shy. Timid I would say."
Heartbreaking floral tributes were left by locals at the village's pond.
Charmayne Dennard, a promoter, visited the pond with friends to lay flowers. They threw sunflowers into the pond as a tribute.
Miss Dennard, a 28-year-old mother of two from nearby Bordon, said: "It's just so heartbreaking, I had to come and pay my respects.
"That poor, poor little girl. You can't imagine the pain her family must be going through.
"The unknown is so scary, it's frightening to think of what happened."
Hampshire Constabulary said: "A woman arrested on suspicion of murder following the death of a child who was found at Kingsley Pond, has been released from custody but remains under investigation.
"She has been detained under the Mental Health Act.
"Police were called at 5.02pm on Sunday, 10 September to a report of a two-year-old girl who had gone missing from her home on Forge Road, Kingsley, Bordon.
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"She was found a short time later in Kingsley Pond.
"She was taken to hospital in a serious condition but sadly died on the afternoon of Monday, 11 September."
