A police officer broke down in court as she described pulling a two-year-old girl’s body from a car after it had plunged into a river.

Kiara Moore died after being recovered from her parents’ silver Mini, which rolled into the River Teifi in Cardigan on 19 March after the handbrake was disengaged, just days before her third birthday.

An inquest into her death heard police officers waded into the freezing water in an attempt to save the little girl after they spotted the submerged vehicle.

PCSO Carol Griffiths told the inquest on Tuesday at Aberystwyth Justice Centre she had originally been told a car had been stolen with a “three-year-old girl inside” before she was alerted to a car submerged in the river.

She said: “I looked to the water and could see the exterior of a car poking above the surface.

“I took off my stab vest, utility belt and boots.”

The officer then paused giving her evidence as she began to cry, needing to compose herself before continuing.

She said: “The river was freezing cold and I could tell the current was very strong. I put my head under the water and it was really dirty. The car was fully immersed with water.

“The passenger window was open slightly, about 10cm.”

PCSO Griffiths said she and another officer used a baton to smash one of the car’s windows open, which led to Kiara’s body floating out.

She said: “I then felt Kiara’s body. She floated out of the vehicle into my arms. She was wearing a pink jacket which matched the clothing described by her mother.

“As we reached the river bank I took hold over her and lowered her onto the floor, putting her gently on the ground. Officers began CPR on her.

“All I remember is standing there looking at her body on the ground.

“Her head was rolling all around the place and her face was purple.”

The inquest heard mother Kim Rowlands initially feared the car had been stolen with Kiara inside after she returned to find it missing.

Detective Constable Hannah Garney said CCTV footage showed Rowlands had left Kiara inside the vehicle for two minutes and one second while she went inside her office in an old scouts hall to retrieve cash to go food shopping.

By then the car had rolled into the water and the strong current had swept the Mini further down the river and out of sight of the slipway, meaning it was two hours later before police found the car almost completely submerged.

Dyfed-Powys Police have previously said there would be no charges in relation to the “tragic incident”.

Coroner Peter Brunton told the inquest he proposed to record the cause of death as immersion as opposed to drowning, as “Kiara had no control over what happened”.

A statement from Rowlands read out in court said Kiara had not been strapped in to the front passenger seat and had been in a “mischievous” mood.

She said: “The car keys were still in the driver’s side or in the ignition.

“As I went into he office I could hear Kiara in the car. When I left she was singing and shouting and laughing.”

Brunton said: “The question is how these events were able to occur with the gear and the handbrake in the positions described.

“On the balance of probabilities, for that car to roll down the slope into the river, even in third gear, without its handbrake applied, the only inference I can say is that the handbrake was not set for whatever reason.

“It seems quite clear to me that drowning would have occurred within 30 seconds of the car going into the river.

“Her body was not recovered for some two hours later.

“These were a perfectly lawful set of circumstances that have taken an unexpected turn.”

The inquest continues.