A CORONER described the inquest into the death of a three-year-old toddler as 'one of the saddest cases' he had ever had to deal with. Little Ellie Conlon was on her way to Brean for a holiday with her family when she choked on a piece of sausage. Ellie

A CORONER described the inquest into the death of a three-year-old toddler as 'one of the saddest cases' he had ever had to deal with. Little Ellie Conlon was on her way to Brean for a holiday with her family when she choked on a piece of sausage. Ellie, who lived in Redditch, Worcestershire, had stopped with her family at the Aller Parade shops in Winterstoke Road, Weston, to buy fish and chips for lunch. The toddler was excited because she had never seen a beach before and she told her family she wanted to eat sausage and chips and buy a bucket and spade. The family arrived in Weston at around 12noon on July 15 last year and stopped for food on their way to Brean.Ellie was sat with her father, James, on the back seat of their car when she started to choke. Her mother, Sheryl Elliot, who was sat in the front passenger seat of the car shouted: "Do something, do something."James grabbed Ellie and tried to get the sausage out. Policeman PC Philip Baker, who was parking his motorbike in the nearby Tesco Express car park on Broadway, was told by a passer-by that there was a little girl choking. PC Baker called for back-up and asked for an ambulance. When he arrived at the scene, a crowd had gathered and Ellie's face had turned light blue. In a statement read by DC Andrew Eastwood at the inquest into her death, PC Baker said: "Her lips and eyelids were a dark blue colour and she was completely lifeless and limp."PC Baker tried to dislodge the sausage several times by slapping Ellie hard on the back. The girl's father shouted at him: "Please, please save my baby daughter." The police officer then tried mouth-to-mouth resuscitation three times. The colour came back into Ellie's face and she began to take shallow breaths, but was still struggling to breathe. Ambulance driver Scott King arrived and Ellie was taken to Weston General Hospital with her parents in the back of the ambulance. It was driven by a police constable who arrived at the scene moments before the ambulance. Mr King continued his attempts to help Ellie during the short ride to the hospital but she was pronounced dead at 1.30pm.Coroner Brian Whitehouse said at the inquest: "I have no doubt that this was an accident, and perhaps Ellie's excitement was a factor in her death. The medical cause of death was accidental asphyxiation, but I prefer the term misadventure. I convey my condolences to Ellie's parents.