A MOTHER is due in court today accused of murdering her three-year-old daughter.

Claire Colebourn, 36, will appear at Winchester Crown Court this morning, following the death of Bethan Colebourn in Fordingbridge last year.

It comes after a fresh police investigation revealed the toddler died from drowning.

Officers say the result was revealed during further laboratory tests, after an original postmortem came back “inconclusive”.

It follows an incident at a house in Whitsbury Road, Fordingbridge on October 19.

Emergency services rushed to the property following a report of a ‘concern for welfare’.

Paramedics treated Bethan at the scene, before airlifting her to Salisbury District Hospital, where she later died.

Colebourn was also treated at the scene.

Following the incident, detectives launched an investigation and arrested Colebourn, then 35 and from Fordingbridge, on suspicion of murder.

Colebourn, now of Sandford Road, Littlemore, Oxford, was later released pending further investigation by the police.

Police say she has now been served with a postal requisition by detectives to appear in court.

A spokesperson for Hampshire Constabulary said: “We are now in a position to confirm the cause of death of a three-year-old girl from Fordingbridge.

“Officers were called to a house in Whitsbury Road on October 19, 2017.

“Bethan Colebourn was taken to Salisbury District Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.

“The cause of death has been confirmed as drowning.”

Speaking at the time, a neighbour, who did not want to be named, said he had visited the family’s converted bungalow the previous Christmas for drinks.

The shocked neighbour said: “I cannot believe what has happened.”