Bethan Colebourn was airlifted from a house in Fordingbridge

• Mum appears before a judge charged with murdering her daughter

Claire Colebourn, 36, has been served with a postal requisition by detectives following the death of a three-year-old Bethan.

Colebourn, of Sandford Road, Littlemore, Oxford, will appear before a crown court judge who will sit as a district judge at Winchester Crown Court for a preliminary hearing.

Bethan was airlifted to Salisbury District Hospital on October 19 2017 after emergency services were called to a property in Whitsbury Road, Fordingbridge at 7pm. The tot was pronounced dead later that evening.

The cause of Bethan's death was yesterday confirmed as drowning, police say.

Officers serving with Hampshire police launched a murder investigation after the youngster died.

Police were called to the address, a gated bungalow, in response to a report of a concern for welfare. Paramedics from the South Central Ambulance Service also attended.

The little girl was the daughter of Michael Colebourn, who is chief executive of a marine interiors firm, Trimline, based in Southampton.

In the days after Bethan's death, the property, which lies on a main road close to the junction of Parsonage Park Drive, remained cordoned off and under police guard as detectives continued with their investigation.

Neighbours spoke of their shock, with one man telling the Daily Echo of the young family who would spend days in the garden having a "lovely time".

Bethan's family, who asked for privacy, paid tribute to a "fun-loving, adventurous and caring young girl who will be dearly missed".

The day after the girl's death, a 35-year-old woman arrested in connection with the investigation was hospitalised after suffering a medical episode while in police custody.

Officers halted their investigation while the woman was in the care of doctors, and a police spokesperson said: "Our enquiries in relation to her will resume at an appropriate time."

The woman was later released under investigation.