Annabel Mackey, 2, would go for walks holding her mum’s hand before pond death as forensic officers search family home
TWO-year-old Annabel Mackey would go for walks holding her mum’s hand before her death in a pond – as forensic officers search their family home.
A woman has been detained under the Mental Health Act after she was arrested for little Annabel’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.
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.
“She was gorgeous, she was a beautiful little girl. Obviously her mum was with her most of the time.”
Annabel’s mum Alice Mackey is understood to be a privately-educated teacher who studied at Oxford Brookes University and London’s University of Roehampton.
She married Annabel’s dad Peter in 2015.
TRAGIC DEATH
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.
“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.”