A 4-year-old British girl accidentally hanged herself in a tree just days after she became a sister to twins – and her mother has now spoken of her “hellish grief” after the tragedy.
Freya Thorpe was wearing a bicycle helmet when she climbed a tree near her home in Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire, in September 2019, South West News Service reported.
She slipped and fell, but her helmet strap caught on the tree and she died despite attempts by rescuers.
“I am a broken person, caught in a hellish storm of grief,” said Freya’s mother Elise, The Sun reported.
“Every day and night we live in hell, torture, pure shock and grief beyond comprehension,” she said.
The devastated mother told SWNS that she and her husband were “over the moon after the long-awaited arrival and difficult pregnancy” of twins Kiera and Zack – adding that she would have committed suicide had she not given birth 10 days earlier.
“A brother and sister that Freya had waited so patiently for nine long and difficult months to become a big sister,” she told the outlet.
“In the early afternoon Dad had to get the special milk from Boots Pharmacy in Cowley for the twins because they were allergic to cow’s milk,” Elise said.
Freya was invited to a play date at a house “10 seconds” walk on a dead end road where parents “let their children play with confidence,” the mother said.
But on the fateful day, Freya ventured out without her mother knowing.
“I felt like I wanted her at home. Shortly after, I saw an ambulance at the end of the road – I panicked, at that point I didn’t know why I panicked, ”Elise told SWNS.
‘I called my husband to say I would get her back from the house behind. He said, “No, I’m five minutes away, stay with the babies,” she said.
‘I saw his car drive by and not come back from the little dead end. I knew something was wrong, ”she added.
When she saw her husband with a firefighter, she grabbed the twins and ran to a cordoned-off area where she saw emergency workers desperately working on Freya.
After two days of waiting at John Radcliffe Hospital, she and her husband were told their daughter could not be saved.
“I never set foot in my house again. This is something I have also lost and miss to this day: my house, ”said Elise.
“If I hadn’t given birth ten days earlier, we would have died in the hospital without a doubt that night,” she said.
“We’ve had so much support over the past 18 months and we can’t tell you all how much it helped us through and for that I can never thank everyone enough for the support, kind words and donations – even from those we never met,” the mother continued.
‘But we have also experienced criticism and abuse from people who asked,’ Where were the parents? How could they leave her alone? She added.
“It has led to division between family members and judgment, all because people didn’t know Freya was out of our care when this happened.”