Mum wakes to find five-year-old daughter dead beside her

Lila Marsland, who was weeks shy of her sixth birthday, was found unresponsive next to her mother, Rachel, 36.

When the mom woke up and realized her daughter wasn’t breathing, she called the paramedics. Sadly, there was nothing that could be done. According to them, the girl had been dead for several hours before they arrived at her home.

The devastated mother said the family didn’t have any answers of the cause of death. Speaking to Manchester Evening News, Rachel shared, “I woke up and she was dead next to me. I rang for an ambulance but she had been dead a few hours.

“They gave her CPR; they arrived within minutes but it was already too late. It’s horrendous. I still can’t believe it’s happened.

“She was kind to everyone; I would take her to school and pick her up and she would be hugging all the teachers. It would take her 30 minutes to leave.”

Lila attended Flowery Field Primary School in Hyde.

She was described as “the nicest child ever.” According to her mom, Lila had a lot of friends and was known for her bright red hair and her bubbly personality.

“Because we don’t know what she’s died of, I don’t feel like we can even grieve properly at the moment. We haven’t even been given answers on how she’s died,” Rachel told Manchester Evening News.

Lila’s funeral was held a month after her sudden passing, with everyone from her primary school in attendance.

“It was a nice send off for her,” Rachael said. “We had a horse and carriage. The church was absolutely packed; all the school attended. It was the perfect day for her.”

Tragically, Lila died on December 28, 2023. In October of 2024, an inquest into Lila’s death has now opened at Stockport Coroners Court, with troubling details emerging at a pre-inquest review hearing, Manchester Evening News reported.

It emerged that the original copies of Lila’s medical notes in the weeks leading up to her death had been ‘misplaced.’

“The court heard that there appeared to be no entry on records provided to the court for an assessment at 18.35 on October 8 2023. Other entries on the records indicated that Lila had been prescribed paracetamol, and though she never received the medication this suggested that she had been seen by someone senior enough to order a prescription,” the outlet reported.

Area Coroner Chris Morris requested that the ‘misplaced’ original copies of the notes be located, adding this is a “serious matter.”

“We believe this is a complete record because a copy was taken before the original was misplaced.”

Further, Mr. Morris decided that the inquest will have a jury and set aside a period of eight days, an unusually long time.

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