A toddler drowned in the Oxford Canal in Banbury while playing with his sister, an inquest heard.

Alfred Palmer, two, fell into the water while digging for worms on the towpath with his step-sister, Jaylei-Rose, on Sunday, March 30, while his family was living in a houseboat on the canal.

His mother, Bianca Slevin, 27, told the inquest at Oxford coroner's court that she looked away for a "second" from where the children were playing and when she looked back, Alfie had gone.

Miss Slevin said that she thought her son was hiding and searched the boat and towpath.

But when Jaylei-Rose, eight, pointed out Alfie's boots in the canal, his father, Damon Palmer, jumped into the water and pulled out his unconscious son.

The toddler was airlifted to the John Radcliffe Hospital, in Oxford, but pronounced dead on arrival.

His parents called for a barrier to be put along the towpath.

Miss Slevin said: "There needs to be something along the edge to make people more aware and to stop people slipping right in."

Oxfordshire coroner Nicholas Gardiner recorded a verdict of accidental death.

The family has now moved to Devon to make a fresh start.