This is an extract from the Slough Observer
Kyra Hill inquest: Waterpark ‘invited children to swim in deep water’ – 17th May – By Nicole McBride
A waterpark owner caused danger by “inviting” children to swim in deep water, a lawyer representing the family of a drowned 11-year-old girl has told her inquest.
Kyra Hill died after getting into difficulty in a designated swimming area at Liquid Leisure near Windsor, Berkshire, on August 6 2022.
Rachel Marcus, representing the Hill family, asked Senior Coroner Heidi Connor to consider possible gross negligence manslaughter by Liquid Leisure owner and director Stuart Marston, as well as corporate manslaughter ahead of her conclusion.
In her oral submissions at Berkshire Coroner’s Court on Friday, Ms Marcus said “actions and omissions” prior to Kyra going in the water were an area for investigation. Ms Marcus told the inquest: “The danger was created by Mr Marston himself in relation to gross negligence manslaughter, in not only permitting but inviting children including Kyra to swim in a designated swimming area containing deep water.” The lawyer said Mr Marston “owed a duty of care” to those who were swimming in the designated swimming area. Ms Marcus said that not focusing her submissions on the failed rescue attempt did not mean that it was not “exceptionally bad”. She added: “With alternative action and better planning Kyra would have had a better chance of survival.”
Angus Withington KC, representing Liquid Leisure, said in his submissions that the company was “a separate and distinct legal entity” to Mr Marston, adding that the company was “responsible for all of the activities”.
In relation to Mr Marston, Mr Withington said: “There is no basis at all as a matter of law in imposing a duty of care on a director or owner in relation to the activities of an entirely separate and distinct legal entity.
“It would be wholly impermissible for a finding to be made that he had assumed a duty of care in circumstances where it was not put to him and he was not asked whether he accepted individual or legal responsibility effectively for the safety of everybody for the activities associated with the company where he was a director.”
Mr Withington said this applied to whether there “ought to have been a warning in relation to deep water at the site”, adding it also applied to “whether or not there ought to have been a swim check, buoyancy aids to be worn, or further information to be provided of adult-to-child ratios”. He added that these points were “nowhere near serious enough for a crime such a manslaughter”.
In relation to corporate manslaughter, Mr Withington said there were “no national or international standards or any specific health and safety legislation” which would enable the coroner to make an assessment whether the “arrangements were a breach of duty or a gross breach of duty”.
Senior Coroner Ms Connor told the inquest that a post-mortem examination had given the cause of Kyra’s death as “drowning”.
Thames Valley Police Sergeant Samuel French, who was a response sergeant at the time of the incident, told the inquest that police were called at about 4pm and “officers were deployed immediately”. Kyra was seen going under water at 3.20pm and emergency services were called to the scene at 3.57pm by Mr Marston, the inquest previously heard. After being told by the coroner that it had taken 37 minutes for 999 to be called, Sergeant French spoke of his “surprise” having initially said he believed the spotting of Kyra struggling had occurred “around 20 minutes prior to the call to police”. The police officer said CCTV, which directed divers searching for Kyra to the right area, had not been looked at by the time he had arrived at the scene – which took about 20 minutes in a police car.
Diver Chris Knight resurfaced in the swim area having found Kyra at 5.09pm after there had been numerous searches in parts of the lake away from where Kyra had been last seen.
Giving evidence, Sergeant French said: “It was quite a chaotic scene from what was being fed back to me with lots of people present.” The police officer added: “There was conflicting messaging, and that’s what made it so difficult and that’s why I tasked the CCTV to be reviewed.” He said there had been “a bit of a mix of information” as to whether Kyra “had been seen going underwater” and “who was the last to see her”. Asked about his recollections of the scene, Sergeant French said: “I would describe the scene as busy. “It was quite a tricky environment because there were so many people present and so many wanted to know what was going on.” Asked about his memory of the day, the police officer said: “This was quite a traumatic incident and it burns an image on your brain that you remember. “The incidents I remember like yesterday.”
The inquest continues.