A TWENTY-seven-month-old girl died in a tragic car accident on Exmoor, an inquest was told.

Toddler Amelia Edwards was with two family members when the occupants of a Land Rover Discovery stopped to speak in December last year.

Police collision investigator Sgt Joseph Sample told the Taunton hearing that the driver and front seat passenger spoke to the family group through the vehicle window.

He said during the chat Amelia walked around the front of the Discovery to the nearside before walking back the way she had come as the adults chatted.

The whole incident, which was caught on the farm's CCTV, lasted just 30 seconds before the collision.

The officer said it took just two seconds for Amelia to walk from the nearside of the vehicle until the impact.

The driver stopped his car four seconds after that impact with the front bumper.

Sgt Sample said the driver began to pull forward at "walking pace", but Amelia suffered a traumatic head injury and tragically died at the scene.

The officer said in his opinion the driver could not have seen the little girl from his driver's seat or through the windscreen.

Parking sensors would not have been activated on the vehicle and the engine of the Discovery had cut out when it was stationary before re-starting as it pulled away slowly on a road in private grounds, the inquest heard.

The senior coroner for Somerset Tony Williams said Amelia lived at Dulverton with her nurse mother and IT specialist father who both attended the hearing.

In a narrative conclusion, Mr Williams said: "Amelia Edwards was struck by a motor car which resulted in her sustaining fatal injuries."