A seven-year-old schoolgirl died from natural causes an inquest has ruled.

Sophie Isabella Moolman, from Douglas, passed away on March 29 at Noble’s Hospital after becoming ill at home.

Her official cause of death was given as acute myocarditis, associated with viral myocarditis - influenza A (H3), with upper respiratory viral influenza present but not a cause of death.

The inquest was attended by Sophie’s mother, Samantha Moolman, and grandmother, Patricia Scott.

Coroner of inquests John Needham said while making the ruling: ’I’d like to thank Sophie’s mum and grandmother for being here, it can’t have been easy.

’It is clear Sophie was a bright, clever and fun-loving girl who dearly loved her family and was dearly loved by her family.’

Sophie was a pupil at Scoill yn Jubilee in Douglas. She was born on January 1, 2011, in the Isle of Man.

Earlier, Mr Needham read out written statements from Ms Moolman, Ms Scott and William Walton (the paramedic who attended Sophie’s home), as well as details from a doctor’s report at Accident and Emergency, and the post mortem which was conducted by Dr George Kokai at Alder Hey children’s hospital in Liverpool.

In her statement, Ms Moolman described her daughter as ’bright, happy, and full of energy’.

She said that her daughter had complained of having a sore stomach at times in the days leading up to her tragic death but she had thought it was just a cold or stomach bug.

Ms Moolman also said that Sophie was drinking a lot of water, had a poor appetite, and had felt sick so she had kept her off school and given her Calpol.

Ms Scott said that Sophie’s temperature had been up and down on March 27, at one point reaching 41C, and she had developed a cough.

On March 28, the night before her death, Sophie was said to have walked up the stairs to sleep in her mother’s room without any struggle.

At 6.30am on March 29 Ms Moolman said that Sophie was awake but they both then went back to sleep.

When Ms Moolman woke at 10.30am, she said that Sophie’s condition began to deteriorate rapidly.

She had difficulty breathing and said that she could not see.

An ambulance was called and Ms Moolman was talked through administering CPR after Sophie stopped breathing.

Sophie was taken to hospital but doctors were unable to resuscitate her.

Mr Needham said: ’I accept Sophie’s condition did not appear serious, other than a minor ailment.

’I note the spikes in her temperature but that wasn’t sustained, so I can fully understand why one would say it was just a blip.

’I am aware of a cough on Sunday, which seemed to have worsened by Tuesday but right up until Wednesday night, there didn’t seem to be anything particularly wrong, other than the minor ailment.

’It was only on Thursday morning that Sophie’s condition worsened.

’Nothing I can say can ease the family’s pain but I hope this can give some closure.’