A THREE-year-old girl died from massive head injuries after being dragged under the wheel of a bus, an inquest heard today.

The inquest at County Hall, Durham, heard that Aleisha Jane Ord, of Station Road South, Murton, was killed as she crossed the road near her grandmother's house at Burnip Road, Murton, on May 19 last year.

She had been staying the night there, as she often did, with her cousin Stacey Cooper, eight, and the pair had gone out to play on a recreation area known as 'The Green'.

The girls were standing hand in hand on the pavement behind a stationary bus when the 151 Murton Station to the Park Lane Interchange service approached in the opposite direction.

Paul James Croft, 12, who was travelling on the 151 with his mother and two brothers, said he saw Aleisha cross the road and hit the side of the bus. He said: "I only saw Aleisha cross the road. She went underneath the bus and I turned round and saw her legs and arms."

Bus driver Ronald Butler, who has worked for Go Ahead Northern for 34 years, said he was only travelling at about ten mph when the accident happened, at around 10.40am.

He said he had often driven along Burnip Road, which has a 30mph speed limit and traffic calming measures. "As I was passing the other bus, I glanced in the mirror and saw the child slide under the bus," he said. "I braked immediately."

PC Keith Butler, a Durham senior traffic officer, said Aleisha, who died the day before her fourth birthday, was "wrapped in cotton wool" by her grandmother, only being allowed out when accompanied by her cousin. He said: "It's my view that the child placed her hands on the top of the wheel and with a half turn, it took her with it."

Recording a verdict of accidental death, north Durham deputy coroner Brenda Davidson, said: "The situation is as unusual as it is tragic. The likelihood is that arms outstretched, she has been caught up into the mechanism of the bus."