A heartbroken mum has spoken of how she desperately tried to revive her three-year-old daughter after finding her laid motionless on her bed.

Andrea Walker gave little Ellie CPR and mouth-to-mouth in a bid to resuscitate her.

But the tot was pronounced dead on arrival, by ambulance, at Airedale General Hospital.

Now Mrs Walker, of Bar Lane, Riddlesden, is going through an agonising wait to discover what caused Ellie’s death.

An initial post-mortem examination was inconclusive and a second was due to be carried out yesterday afternoon.

“What makes all this nightmare even worse is not knowing how she died,” said Mrs Walker, 46, a Keighley town councillor.

“One day she was her usual happy, chirpy self and there was no sign of any problem.

“The following day she was a little off colour, but we just thought she was starting with a cold, nothing more serious.

“She’d been out with her sister and when she got back had a bit of a sleep on the sofa. She didn’t want any tea so I gave her a quick bath and put her to bed.

“Her cheeks were warm, but there was nothing untoward.

“I went up to check on her at 10pm and she seemed fine, she was talking to me. I said ‘goodnight sweetheart, love you’ and kissed her on the head.”

The following morning, Mrs Walker knocked on Ellie’s door but couldn’t get any response.

“She was just laid there, not moving,” she said. “I touched her hand and it was like marble – she was so cold. Her lips and fingers were blue.”

She screamed to her partner Kevin Martin to call for an ambulance.

Meanwhile, Mrs Walker tried frantically to revive her.

“I still can’t believe she’s not here,” said Mrs Walker, who also has a 22-year-old daughter, Emma.

“Ellie was such a cheerful girl and cheeky, but in a lovely way.

“She had the most beautiful curls and brown eyes.”

Ellie attended the Mothers and Toddlers group at St Mary’s in Riddlesden and had just started at the village’s Bramble Hedge playgroup.

“She had lots of friends and looked after the little ones at Mothers and Toddlers – she was like the mother figure to them,” said Mrs Walker.

“She touched a lot of people’s lives and hearts.”

Mrs Walker said she had received many messages of support and sympathy and appreciated them all.

An inquest into Ellie’s death is due to open today and a temporary death certificate will be issued to allow funeral arrangements to go ahead. Ellie will be buried at Morton Cemetery.