A three-year-old girl, Iris-Mae Aubrey, drowned in a bath at her home on Montague Street in Abertillery on September 26, 2023. According to an inquest at Gwent Coroner's Court, Iris-Mae had been sent home from school earlier that day after falling ill. Her grandmother took her home and stayed with Iris-Mae and her mother, Chelsea, until her father, Ryan, returned home.
At around 8.25 pm, Iris-Mae's father ran a bath for her, which her mother checked to ensure it was only half-filled. Chelsea briefly left Iris-Mae to get a towel. About 25 minutes later, Chelsea returned to find the bath fully filled and Iris-Mae unresponsive. CPR was initiated, and emergency services were called. Paramedics from the Wales Ambulance Service arrived around 9 pm but were unable to revive her, and she was pronounced dead at 9.41 pm.
Senior coroner Caroline Saunders concluded that Iris-Mae had managed to turn on the bath taps while unattended, leading to her tragic accidental drowning.