Girl, four, dies after accident at party

A four-year-old girl from a village near Wolverhampton has died following a tragic accident at a family Christmas party.

The devastated parents of Arwen Isobel Esterhuizen, from Albrighton, today paid tribute to the "heartbeat of their home".

It is believed that the youngster died of asphyxiation after she was found in a room on her own at the party in Tong, near Shifnal, on December 27. Ambulance crews took her to Telford's Princess Royal Hospital but she was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

Her father Johan paid tribute to his daughter and said she was the life of the house she shared with her supply teacher mother Lucy and two-year-old sister Eva."She was the heartbeat of our house.

She was the first one to wake up in the morning and she kept going until we told her to go to bed. She was a perfectly healthy little girl and she was at her happiest," he said. "She was loved at Albrighton and Donnington Nursery School and at church, a lot of people loved her, she was a great little character.

On the night of the tragic accident, Arwen was playing in a room alone. Mr Esterhuizen, who works for a Watford company making children's playgrounds, added: "It was a family gathering, as we normally do at Christmas, and there was a tragic accident and she died of asphyxiation. She is the only one who knows what happened.

"The house was full of people but when the accident happened she was on her own.

"It has been devastating because your daughter is there one moment and at another moment an accident can happen and she's gone," he said. "Since it happened it has been very hard for us. It has had a tremendous impact on the family and all over the world, we have family in America, South Africa and Holland."

Mr Esterhuizen said the family then had to explain to Eva where her older sister had gone.

"We have explained to Eva in simple terms that she is with Jesus now and that we will see her again," he said. "A little girl of four years has changed the lives of so many people and still does, even though she is no longer with us."

DC Irene Vernon, from West Mercia Police, said a post mortem had been carried out. "While the death is still being treated as unexplained and a report will be prepared for the forthcoming inquest, at this stage the little girl's death appears to have been a tragic accident," she said.

A funeral service for the youngster will be held at The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, in Lawley, Telford, on Saturday at 11am.