Teens accused of drinking as boy, 8, drowned in Yorkshire pool

Kaimen Ward, who was described as a non-swimmer, got into difficulties while playing with a group of teenagers at Hambleton Leisure Centre in August last year, the inquest in Northallerton heard.

Abigail Lawson, Jade Green and Andrew I’Anson went swimming with Kaimen as his mother Caroline, described in court as a depressive alcoholic, was afraid of water after nearly drowning as a child.

The teenagers, all aged 16 at the time of the tragedy, also went swimming with Kaimen’s twin sister Hope-Ella and 11-year-old Michael Ward, who is not related to the victim.

The inquest heard the group was told off by staff at the poolside for going down a slide in a group and for being rowdy and splashing about.

At one point, the teenagers were asked if they had been drinking and staff smelt their breath.

Giving evidence, the teenagers denied they had been drinking, but Jade Green said she and Abigail had a glass of Lambrini white wine before they set off to the swimming pool.

Sarah Dodsworth, who was swimming with a friend on the day of the tragedy but who was not connected to the group, said she thought Abigail had been drinking.

She said: “I think she had been drinking... She couldn’t stand straight and she was shouting all the time. She was a bit wobbly.

“I asked her if she had been drinking and she said ‘yeah’.”

Abigail denied the accusation.

The court was told Kaimen became separated from the group and was probably under the water for several minutes before he was spotted and plucked out of the pool. He died, despite efforts to revive him, the inquest was told.

Andrew I’Anson said he first spotted an object under the water while he was about to come down a slide.

He said he walked from the slide with Michael Ward towards a waterfall where they had been playing and both of them got in the water.

“We both got in and because I wasn’t wearing goggles, Michael grabbed his arm and I pulled him to the top. His face and lips were blue.”

Abigail told the court she was standing in a circle near the waterfall when she saw somebody under the water, and thought it was a swimmer trying to hold his breath.

The court was told four lifeguards were on duty at the time.

Kaimen was described by his swimming instructor as “very happy and enthusiastic” in water but “he thought he could do more than he could”.

Abigail told the jury she thought Kaimen was with the males in the group and someone was with him when they played on the slides. At one point she recalled him doing “very well” as he practised swimming in the shallow end.

Asked what they did, she replied: “Just played on the slides. We were all together.”

Later, she recalled playing in front of a waterfall: “He was just having a splash about, all messing about in the pool.”

She said the group was stood in a circle when she spotted somebody under the water, later identified as Kaimen.

“I thought the person was holding his breath under the waterfall. Seeing how long he could hold his breath.

“Andrew picked him up out of the water when he realised he wasn’t.”

Jade said she thought the boys in the group stayed together and she was not sure if Kaimen was at the slide.

At one point she was approached by a lifeguard.

“They had some complaints about some noise and wanted to know if we had been drinking,” she said.

Andrew said Kaimen initially went to the shallow end of the main pool. He said the youngster wanted to go to the deep end where the others were playing.

“I was told he could swim a little but not much,” he said.

He told the jury all the group went to play on the slide.

At one point he said Kaimen was with a friend of a similar age who was called Liam.

“He was either with Abbie or his friend when not with me,” he told the jury.

A statement was read out on behalf of Michael Ward in which he claimed that Abigail was responsible for Kaimen that day and she was drunk. He claimed she was shouting and swore at a lifeguard.

Lifeguard Thomas Bunn, 19, said he recalled the youngsters that day, adding: “They were just kids playing in the pool.”

The inquest, which is expected to last three days, was adjourned until tomorrow.