An inquest has heard a heartbreaking account of the day six-year-old Dajahnel Young died while at the Kent coast with family friends.

Cynthia Robinson, who regarded the little girl as a "granddaughter", tearfully told how she and husband Roy took her on a group beach trip to Margate on July 28 last year.

While giving evidence as the inquest resumed for its second day at the Guildhall in Sandwich, Mrs Robinson broke down as recounted the day's tragic events.

The 50-year-old told how she picked Dajahnel - known by her middle name Amazin - up from her mother Camille Remekie on Friday, July 27 and took her home for a sleepover before setting out for the seaside from south London the next day.

Arriving at Margate just before 2pm, Mrs Robinson found the beach "very crowded" - more so than she had ever seen it - while the weather was hot and windy.

"There was music everywhere - everybody was having parties," she said.

Camille, the mother, Facetimed Mrs Robinson and spoke to Amazin for a last time just after 2pm.

"She said she was going to take some pretty stones home for her mum."

After the call ended, Mrs Robinson's husband, Roy, set off for the water with Amazin and several other children while Mrs Robinson remained by the group's beach tents with four young children.

The couple were responsible for eight children aged 12 and under, including a baby - as well as four young adults aged between 18 and 20.

"Then Amazin came back to me," said Mrs Robinson. "Roy sent her back. She said she wanted a wee but she waited until she was bursting so she just wet herself.

"I said to her don't worry - when we've finished here I'll clean you, just stay there.

"Because we were at the beach and if I changed her she'd be back in the sand. She stayed with me."

Mrs Robinson then reached for her phone from one of the beach tents, and began filming the children playing in the sand and sat near her.

She claims it was while filming that she noticed Amazin had disappeared.

The video, played before the court, documents from a first-person angle Mrs Robinson's walk across the packed beach to where her husband and some of the other children are paddling in the water.

She is heard to remark upon how far the group has moved from where she last saw them.

"I still couldn't see Amazin," she said at the inquest. "I stopped filming. I said 'Roy, where is Amazin?' And he said 'She's with you'. I said 'no, she was but now she's gone'."

Realising a group of older children had set off to buy ice creams, Mrs Robinson rang them - but soon realised Amazin was not with them either and began to frantically search the beach.

"We started looking in the water. Roy walked off and looked everywhere - on the sand, everywhere.

"I was panicking."

"We started looking in the water. Roy walked off and looked everywhere - on the sand, everywhere" - Cynthia Robinson

Mrs Robinson then called the older children back, saying "Come now - we need everybody to start looking".

She then approached a lifeguard standing nearby.

"I told him that I can't find my granddaughter," she explained.

"He asked where she was last seen, and I said 'Just there, swimming'.

"There lifeguard said it's very shallow there so nobody can drown there. He took me further away from where the tent was.

"I said to him that we had already looked here, on the sand and in the water."

Mrs Robinson asked him to put out a message on a beach tannoy, which the lifeguard allegedly refused to do.

"He said their policy is they don't call for kids because anybody could then see them and snatch them," she said.

"I noticed the tide was coming in and I had to step up onto the steps.

"Then the lifeguard said 'a situation has come up, come back to the lifeguard stand'.

"When I was walking back I saw some police and felt and little bit of relief - thinking the police will help to find her.

"Then I heard one policeman said which hospital she's in, and I said 'Is that Amazin?'

"He didn't answer, and I broke down and I started crying and he just said: 'We're doing everything we can for her'."

Mrs Robinson was then taken to Margate's QEQM hospital by police.

"Surprisingly Roy was already there. I still didn't know what was happening but Amazin was on life support.

"We were all in the waiting room praying, and I was crying.

"Then they came and said unfortunately they have to switch the life support off.

"I asked if they could wait until the mum comes, but they said unfortunately not."

"We were all in the waiting room praying, and I was crying" - Cynthia Robinson

Camille soon arrived at the hospital.

Mrs Robinson said: "She walked past the waiting room and I tried to run out and hold her hand, and she brushed me off. She said 'accidents do happen'.

"I think at the time she still thought her baby was still alive."

Mrs Robinson and her husband left to get food for the other children, who had not eaten, but when they returned to the hospital they were barred entry by police.

She told how she had been friends with Amazin's mum Camille Remekie since 2007, when they met at a New Year event at church.

Just a few weeks later she invited Camille, who was reportedly homeless at the time, to live with her and her family.

"We are family," said Mrs Robinson. "I love Camille and I will always love her. Things don't change."

But she told how the pair frequently had fallings out, prompting Camille to move out and then return on a regular basis.

She had been living with Mrs Robinson when she gave birth to Amazin, and Mrs Robinson helped take care of the little girl.

But the time of the Margate trip last summer, Camille and Amazin were not living at Mrs Robinson's home.

The pair had not been on speaking terms for about two years following a falling out, which had prompted Camille to block her friend's phone number.

But after meeting up with Mrs Robinson's children, Amazin was allegedly keen to be allowed to go on the annual beach trip - which she had attended with her mum in 2016.

This (Tuesday) afternoon, the inquest heard from lawyers who accused Mrs Robinson of failing to adequately supervise Amazin while on the beach.

The court heard how Amazin had tried running into the sea earlier that day.

She also allegedly told the adults "I can swim, I can swim", but when Roy took her to the water to "test" her, he found she could not.

Representing the family, Laura Profumo described how prior to the trip Camille had expressly asked Mrs Robinson to look after her "baby" and not let her in the water - something Mrs Robinson vehemently denies.

The court heard how Amazin had poor eyesight and problems with balance, which led her to frequently bump into things.

At the time of the little girl's disappearance, Mrs Robinson described her to the RNLI lifeguard as being "disabled" due to these difficulties.

Lawyers questioned Mrs Robinson's account of Amazin's disappearance - drawing attention to the way in which nine minutes elapsed between the end of the video footage and the time at which Mrs Robinson called her daughter to check whether Amazin was with her.

They also questioned why Amazin's name was not mentioned during nearly four-minute-long video, why Mrs Robinson did not appear to hurry towards the water, and how Amazin was not given any armbands or flotation devices on the day, despite her carers' knowledge she could not swim.

"I'm going to suggest that this video shows no concern that a little girl in your care, who cannot swim, has suddenly disappeared," said Ms Profumo.

"I'm going to put it to you Mrs Robinson - that day on the beach you failed to adequately care for and supervise Amazin."

Addressing Mrs Robinson, coroner Alan Blunsden asked "whether you consider that on that day, you failed to properly supervise Amazin," to which Mrs Robinson replied "no, no, no".

The inquest continues, and is expected to last several more days.

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