Claire Colebourn trial: Grandmother 'found drowned toddler'

Bethan Colebourn was found dead at the family home in October 2017

A woman has told how she found her granddaughter dead in bed after her daughter drowned the child in a bath, a court has heard.

Bethan Colebourn, three, was killed by her mother Claire at the house in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, in October 2017, prosecutors previously said.

Mrs Colebourn's mother, Janet Fildew, 63, wept as she recalled how Bethan was "so cold", in a video interview played at Winchester Crown Court.

Mrs Colebourn, 36, denies murder.

The defendant killed her daughter a month after the break-up of her six-year marriage, the court previously heard.

She told police she did it because "I didn't want [Bethan] to go anywhere near her father".

A large police operation began at the home after the discovery of Bethan's body

Ms Fildew said she arrived at the house in Whitsbury Road at about 18:30 BST on 19 October.

"It was dark... and really quiet. Bethan was in the bed... and I thought she was asleep.

"I rushed upstairs and Claire was hanging over the bed, snorting.. and gurgling. I opened her eyes and there was just like nothing."

Knowing her daughter had type-one diabetes and was having a hypoglycemic attack, Ms Fildew gave her jam and chocolate spread to raise her blood sugar.

'Monitored spending'

She then went downstairs to check on Bethan and found "her little mouth was blue" and she was "so cold, so cold".

Ms Fildew attempted CPR and Mrs Colebourn sobbed in the dock as Ms Fildew said: "I kept on going and going. Her chest was rising but nothing was happening at all."

The defendant, who was revived by paramedics, tried to take her own life and was found to have injected herself with 306 units of insulin that day, nearly 10 times her normal dose, jurors have previously heard.

Bethan died in hospital after being found at the family home in Whitsbury Road

She had an "unfounded" belief that her husband Michael, the chief executive of marine interiors firm Trimline, was having an affair, prosecutors said.

Ms Fildew described Mr Colebourn as "controlling" and "never a hands-on dad".

"[Claire] only had a credit card so that he could monitor everything she was spending," she said.

'Buried with Bethan'

After her husband moved out in September 2017, Mrs Colebourn thought he was monitoring her phone, her mother said.

After Bethan's death, Ms Fildew received a letter from her daughter apparently written on the day of the tragedy.

It read: "Dear mum, I love you, Bethan loves you, thanks for everything... Please make sure I am buried with Bethan in Fordingbridge," Ms Fildew said.

Her sister Kathy Rooker, told the court she phoned her niece to ask why she had killed Bethan, to which she reportedly replied: "To save her from Michael".

'The only way'

"I said, 'When you go to prison, Claire, don't you dare do away with yourself because you've got to live with this like we have to'," Mrs Rooker said.

Mrs Colebourn told a friend, Sam Errington, she only made the decision to kill Bethan and herself after putting her to bed that night, the jury heard.

"She also said what she did was the only way to protect them," Ms Errington said in a police statement read out in court.

The jury has been reduced to 11 members after one juror fell asleep during evidence on Friday.

The trial continues.