Four-year-old girl died after she accidentally hanged herself with headband 'copying cartoon character'

Tragic Paige Brown would have turned 14 in August - now her parents have written a heartbreaking book to help others cope with loss together

Paige Brown died in a tragic accident (Photo: Ferrari)
Parents of a four-year-old a girl accidentally hanged herself with a headband are sharing their heart-breaking story – to help other grieving families cope.

Tragic Paige Brown would have turned 13 last August.

But on New Year’s Day nine years ago, doting father Phil Brown found his beloved little girl hanging from the headband she had excitedly unwrapped for Christmas just a few days before.

It was tied to a hammock used to store teddies in the corner of her pink bedroom.

Her heartbroken parents believe she had been copying a cartoon in which a character swings from a rope.

Despite desperate attempts to resuscitate her, paramedics could not save the “little princess”, and the family was ripped apart.

Paige as a baby with mum Lorraine (Photo: Ferrari)
Now, nearly a decade after Paige’s death, her devastated parents Phil and Lorraine, known as Lou, have made the brave decision to share the story of their grief.

Phil, 42, said: “Every time we hear a story where a young child has died in an accident it’s like our blood runs cold, and we think about the family what they are going through.

“The pain last for years and it’s so hard to get out of that downward spiral.

“Paige’s mum Lou was desperate to find a book which would help her with her grief, but she just couldn’t find one.

“That’s why we decided to do this. If it helps one other family then it’s worth it.”

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Phil, who works for a vending machine company, still suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and flashbacks of the horrifying sight of little Paige entangled in the headband.

But the resilient couple, from Hawkinge, Kent, want to let other families know there is light at the end of the tunnel after suffering a traumatic loss.

Paige's parents want to help others with their grief (Photo: Ferrai)
Lou, 36, who is now training as a counsellor, said: “We want to help other people and give them hope through the grieving process and help them stay together.

“Ninety-eight per cent of people who lose a child split up. If you work as team and listen to teach other you can try to understand each other’s grief.”

First drafts of their book reveal harrowing details of the tragic day Paige died on January 1, 2008 – written in two parts from the perspective of both parents.

On the day she died, little Paige spent the morning looking at wedding dresses with her mum after her parents had celebrated New Year’s Eve by finally setting a date for their big day after two years of engagement.

The couple first met when Lou was just 16, but rekindled their relationship years later, by which time they each had a child with former partners.

Phil adored Paige as if he were her own, and legally adopted her in 2007.

She had been happily playing in her bedroom while the family prepared lunch, until she came downstairs to tell her mum she had got her stretchy purple headband caught in the hammock.

It was stuck fast, and Lorraine went downstairs intending to return to cut it down, before she was momentarily distracted.

Paige's first day at school (Photo: Ferrari)
Just a few minutes later, Paige failed to answer the calls to come down for lunch.

In the book, Phil recalled the harrowing moment he went upstairs to fetch the four-year-old only to find her unconscious.

He wrote: “Everything went into slow motion; Paige was hanging by the neck by the hairband, which was still suspended by the hammock that was full of teddy bears, her feet where just slightly off the floor.

“I lifted her down as quick as I could, I laid her on the floor and screamed as loud as I could for Lou to call the ambulance.”

The frantic couple started chest compressions while they waited for help to arrive.

But when they arrived at hospital, they were ushered in to a room and told their beloved daughter was gone.

Lou recalled: “My heart felt like it had been ripped out, I felt completely dead inside, the pain, my god this pain, I feel sick, I want to die too. I need her back, please let me tell her how much I love her and that I’m so sorry.”

While the couple admit even today they struggle with the ups and downs of grief, the pair now believe they are coping well and support each other through the tough times.

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Now happily married with two children - Paige’s brother Kailun, 11, and daughter Alexia, eight - they feel they are ready to share the trauma of what they went through.

In the run up the funeral, the grieving mum revealed in heart-wrenching detail the devastation of viewing her child’s body after it was released by the coroner having undergone a post mortem.

The family now; Daniel, Phil and Lou (left to right) with Kailun and Alexia at the front (Photo: Ferrari)
She wrote: “Time to go and visit her, this was so hard walking through those doors, seeing her lying there in the tiny coffin, I looked over at her, instantly I am feeling angry, why does she have red lipstick on?

“What are those marks all around her hair line on her face? Why are her legs open and pressed to the sides of the coffin? So, I tried to wipe her lipstick off, and then realised to my horror, her lips were stitched together, I am devastated, why have they done this to her?”

After the service, she described how she struggled to cope with the thought her being buried – fearing the casket would collapse on her little girl.

She added: “When it got dark I felt terrible, I have left my little girl outside in the dark, in the cold.

“I started to panic that her casket would give way and all the mud would fall in on top of her, what if she gets eaten by the bugs, it all was a terrible feeling and the thoughts were horrific, will she rot away, the images of what she may look like.

“I even had to ask a friend to contact the funeral directors to see how long the caskets would last and could I buy her a new one before her one gives way?”

Lou explained: “I used to describe the way I was feeling to standing on the edge of a cliff, some days I would be standing comfortably on the edge, other days I would be leaning over, the really bad days I would almost be hanging on for dear life, the worse days I’d want to just jump.

“From this, I had to learn how to tie a bungee cord to me, how to pull myself back quickly.”

The couple are now looking for a publisher to help them share their experiences with other families struggling with a similar loss.

Phil added: “Lou was so desperate for a book which would help. We just want to something to say this is where we were, but this is where we are now and explain you can get through it.”

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