A bricklayer who passed a toddler walking alone in a village shortly before her fatal fall into a pond said he did not stop to help in case people thought he was trying to abduct her. Clive Peachey, from Liskeard, told an inquest jury sitting in Stratford-upon-Avon this week that he had passed two-year-old girl Abigail Rae in his van shortly after 10am on the morning of November 28, 2002. This was just moments after the toddler disappeared from the Ready Teddy Go nursery in the Warwickshire village of Lower Brailes, according to staff. Abby was found an hour later in an algae-covered pond and rescued by her mother, Victoria Rae, before being taken to Birmingham Children's Hospital by air ambulance where she was pronounced dead later that afternoon. Mr Peachey told the inquest at the Town Hall that he had passed the little girl as she tottered towards the road in High Street. He said: 'I kept thinking I should go back. 'The reason I didn't go back was because I thought people might think I was trying to abduct her. 'I was convinced her parents were driving around and had found her.' Mrs Rae wept as Mr Peachey gave his evidence to the packed hearing. The 36-year-old full-time mother had earlier read emotionally from a statement as she relived the moment she dragged her daughter from the pond. The jury also heard evidence from three members of staff and a helper who were working at the nursery the day Abby died. Supervisor Celia Diston said a back gate, through which the police believe Abby escaped, had been fixed earlier that year and was kept bolted. Ms Diston told the inquest that the back door leading on to the courtyard had been open for about ten minutes on the day Abby died while staff and children wheeled their 'ride on' toys out to the shed to be stored. It was only when Ms Diston took the register at around 10am, after the children had finished going to the toilet and washing their hands, that she said they realised Abby was missing. Workers The hearing was told that three workers started to search the village. Police were called after their initial failure to locate Abby. It was shortly before 11am when nursery staff said the woman who owned the garden adjoining the building knocked to say Abby was in her pond. Two members of staff had gone into that garden during the search but told the inquest they did not see the pond because it was covered in green vegetation. A verdict at the inquest was expected yesterday as the Cornish Times went to press.