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<\/p>\nEmily Whinnery died on March 9, 2025, in Cookstown<\/p>\n
19:25, 06 May 2026Updated 20:10, 06 May 2026<\/p>\n
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Emily Whinnery<\/p>\n
The inquest into the tragic death of one-year-old Emilly Whinnery<\/a> heard the Co Tyrone baby died after choking on a cord from a draw-string gym bag that had been hanging near her cot.<\/p>\n The hearing took place at Belfast Laganside Court in order to establish the circumstances around the death of the young girl<\/a> on March 9, 2025, at her home on Burnvale Crescent, Cookstown.<\/p>\n It was heard that Emily’s mum, Stacey<\/a>, had put her to bed the night before in her cot in the room she shares with her older brother, who was not there that night because he was staying at his father’s. Throughout the night Stacey looked into the room to check on Emily and saw her lying on her cot, however did not turn a light on and the court heard there was blackout curtains in the room and Emily did not use a night light.<\/p>\n In the morning, Stacey woke up, started doing some housework, and was not concerned about Emily<\/a>, as she was normally a good sleeper who could lie in the mornings without any issue. Stacey believed she was still asleep as she could not hear her making any noises that she would normally make.<\/p>\n The hearing heard that at around 11am, Stacey <\/a>went to wake Emily and saw that her lips had turned blue and that there was a draw-string cord from a gym bag wrapped around her neck. The bag had been placed over the corner of a bunk bed next to her cot, with the string on it being long enough to touch the floor, and was considered by attending officers to be close enough for an infant to grab it.<\/p>\n At around 15 months old, Emily was not able to walk by herself but could pull herself up and “coast around” on furniture.<\/p>\n When Stacey moved her daughter, she found that her body felt limp and she rang her mum and told her she thought Emily was dead. She then rang 999 and was talked through performing CPR until an ambulance arrived. The hearing heard a transcript of the 999 calll where Stacey repeatedly says “oh my god she is dead”.<\/p>\n Emily Whinnery is carried in a bright pink coffin on to a horse drawn carriage at Derryloran Parish Church in Cookstown<\/p>\n After paramedics arrived at the scene, Emily was taken from the property<\/a> to meet other paramedics from the air ambulance team nearby, where advanced life support was carried out, but sadly paramedics soon agreed that nothing could be done to save the young girl who was pronounced dead at 12.20pm.<\/p>\n Pathologist Dr Turner told the hearing that Emily had died from a ligature compression on the neck that impacted her jugular vein.<\/p>\n She said that hearing that it could take very little pressure from the ligature to render Emily unconscious<\/a>, and she would have died within minutes. She also said that it was very possible that Emily would not have known she was getting into difficulty, as she may have gone unconscious in a matter of seconds.<\/p>\n The pathologist also said that a post-mortem should show that there were no other injuries to Emily or causes of concern, and that she was well developed for her age.<\/p>\n Coroner Toal said that Emily’s death was a “tragic accident” caused by a ligature compression and stood as a warning to parents about the dangers that are present in their homes.<\/p>\n She said that while the dangers of blind cords are “blazened into the minds of parents” this case showed the risks of other common household items, like a draw-string gym bag.<\/p>\n She closed the inquest by giving her condolences to Emily’s family<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Emily](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_Emily-1.jpg\")
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