Stepdad changes plea in water park death trial
THE stepfather of Charlie Dunn - the five-year-old boy found drowned in a pool at a water park near Nuneaton - has pleaded guilty to manslaughter by gross negligence.
Paul Smith, 36, changed his plea part-way through the Birmingham Crown Court trial yesterday after previously denying any wrong-doing in relation to the death of Charlie Dunn.
Jurors heard Charlie, from Tamworth, Staffordshire, was found in a 1.4-metre deep lagoon at Bosworth Water Park in Leicestershire in July last year.
The jury had heard how a group of other children pulled Charlie Dunn from a lagoon after Smith was allegedly seen smoking and heard saying: “For f***’s sake, we’re ready to go. I don’t know where he f ****** is.”
It can also be reported for the first time that Smith admitted witness intimidation in connection with another incident relating to Charlie, prior to the trial.
Yesterday, Charlie’s mother, Lynsey Dunn, 28, also admitted a charge of neglect in connection with her son after an incident between July 2014 and July 2016, in which she failed to supervise him when Charlie was found in a pedal car next to a busy road.
Dunn also pleaded guilty to a second charge of neglect in relation to another youngster, who cannot be named, after an incident in the summer of 2015.
Mrs Justice Nerys Jefford said: “I will sentence both defendants on December 20.”
She then told the jury: “This system does not work without juries, and people like you.
“You are now free to go, your time as jurors is over. You have my thanks.”
Following the guilty pleas, the prosecution said it would not continue the case against Dunn for manslaughter.”
After the hearing Dunn, who was granted bail, turned to Smith in the dock and said “call me” before blowing him a kiss as he was led down the steps of the dock by security officers.
Opening the Crown’s case on November 30, prosecutor Mary Prior QC said Charlie, who could not swim, had been “left alone in a busy park at five years old in circumstances where there was a clear and obvious risk that he might come to very serious harm leading to his death”.
She said Dunn and Smith had shown “ingrained and entrenched indifference”, adding: “This case is not about parents turning their back for a minute whilst a tragedy occurs.
“We don’t prosecute parents for unavoidable tragedies nor do we expect perfection in parenting.
“This is a gross failure to supervise not for seconds, and not for a few minutes, but for protracted periods of time in circumstances where the child was exposed to danger.”