The married father of a toddler who drowned when her pushchair fell into the sea had let go of her buggy to kiss his girlfriend, an inquest has heard.
Rebecca Hopper, two, from Chatham, was in a double buggy with her baby brother when they fell into the water at Warren Apron near Folkestone on 15 February.
Andrew Hopper told the hearing at Ashford Magistrates' Court he had let go of the buggy "momentarily". The coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death. Pathologist Dr Irene Scheimberg told the inquest Rebecca had drowned and suffered several cardiac arrests during resuscitation attempts.
At the time of the incident Mr Hopper and his wife Sarah lived together in Chatham. Mrs Hopper, who now lives in Dymchurch, was not with them at the time and said after the inquest that the accident could "easily have been avoided". Rebecca was airlifted to the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, but died the same day. Her eight-month-old brother Lewis survived.
Mr Hopper, of Rochester, had taken his children to the coast with his girlfriend, Paula Anderson. A statement from Mr Hopper's interview with Kent Police was read out by coroner Rachel Redman during the inquest.
The software engineer said: "We stopped. I said 'come here', or something like that and we kissed. Momentarily I let go of the buggy and seconds into that kiss we heard a plop - it was like someone throwing a stone into the water.
"We broke from that kiss and thought, 'what was that?' We both looked and saw the buggy had gone."
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Originally Posted by Kenny Macca Doo 
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