Twin in garden pond fall dies

A two-year-old boy who fell into a garden pond with his twin brother has died, police said today.

George Bostock and his brother Harry were found in the water minutes after they went missing from their large gated home in the Staffordshire village of Tean on Monday evening.

Harry was released from the University Hospital of North Staffordshire on Wednesday, but George was put on a life support machine.

Staffordshire Police said today that George had died.

The boys were found in a pond at the back of a house near the family home in Breach Lane following a desperate search.

On Wednesday, their parents Berdine and James Bostock expressed their "sincerest thanks and gratitude" to those who helped rescue them, including father-of-two Craig Lazenby who pulled them from the water and performed CPR on the pair.

Mr Lazenby, a property developer who lives in a caravan on a plot next door to the Bostock family home, told on Wednesday of the panicked search for the twins.

The 37-year-old said he screamed as he spotted them in the pond, in the garden of neighbour Pauline Dalmas, adding: "George seemed to have been in the water for about three or four minutes. Long enough to stop breathing. They had both stopped breathing."

Mr Lazenby said he didn't know the exact chain of events which led to the boys wandering out of the gated property and across the road but praised their parents, adding: "Children are children, they will go where they shouldn't go, it's as simple as that...You couldn't find two more protective parents of children anywhere."

The couple have another child, five-year-old daughter Ellie, he added.

A spokeswoman for Staffordshire Police said: "Our thoughts are with the family at this time.

"We have liaison officers with the family now and we are working closely with the hospital."

She added that George died "within the last 24 hours" but was unable to say exactly when.

The hospital was not immediately available for comment.

Earlier this week neighbour Mark Deaville praised the local community and the emergency services for their "amazing" efforts.

Mr Deaville, district councillor for Staffordshire Moorlands, said: "It was frantic. It is hard to say how long we were searching for them, it is like a haze but the children were found very quickly.

"I don't know how they got out, the house is so secure.

"All the neighbours helped with the search. It was all hands to the wheel until they were found in the pond."

Praising the medical team who arrived at the scene at 6.25pm, he added: "It is very easy to praise the emergency services but these people really did do an incredible job.

"I saw it from start to finish and they were amazing. The paramedics, the doctor, everyone."

Mr Deaville said today: "This whole community is completely shattered, this is our worst nightmare.

"Words are useless at this time but what we will be doing is unite as one as a community and support the family at this dreadfully, dreadfully sad time.

"The family are in our thoughts and prayers."