Charlie Dunn death: Stepdad pleads guilty
Smith admits manslaughter by gross negligence
A CRUEL dad has admitted causing the death of his five-year-old stepson after leaving him to drown in a children’s play pool at a water park.
Paul Smith, 36, had denied manslaughter by gross negligence following the death of Charlie Dunn on July 23 last year.
The tragic youngster, who could not swim and was “terrified” of water, was pulled from the paddling lake by other children who felt his lifeless body beneath their feet.
A court heard the schoolboy had been left to wander off by himself and was left unsupervised by his parents for around two hours before he drowned.
Charlie was pronounced dead in hospital after being found in the 4.5ft (1.4m) deep Blue Lagoon lake at Bosworth Water Park where he had been submerged for 22 minutes.
Smith and Charlie’s mum Lynsey Dunn, 28, went on trial last Thursday accused of manslaughter by gross negligence.
But on Tuesday the couple dramatically changed their pleas part way through the case at Birmingham Crown Court.
Smith admitted manslaughter by gross negligence while Dunn tearfully pleaded guilty to two lesser counts of child cruelty.
As Smith was remanded in custody, Dunn blew him a kiss and said “call me” as she was granted conditional bail.
The pair will be sentenced on December 20.
Discharging the jury, Mrs Justice Nerys Jefford DBE said: “As a result of what has happened in your absence my first act this afternoon is to discharge you as a jury
“As you have gathered, Mr Smith has changed his plea to guilty in relation to the death of Charlie Dunn.
“She, Lynsey Dunn, has pleaded guilty to two counts of child cruelty that relate to one incident you haven’t heard anything about and one incident you heard last week involving Charlie Dunn on his little pedal car heading towards a busy road.
“I am sorry you have had almost a day yesterday and a frustrating day today but there are enormous advantages in this sort of outcome of a criminal trial.
“Thank you very much for your time in the past few days - I can see from the way in which you all took notes and paid enormous attention, I am very grateful for that.”
Dunn admitted two child cruelty charges - one in respect of Charlie and one relating to another child.
She admitted failing to supervise Charlie, between July 2, 2014 and July 23, 2016, when he was playing in a Cosy Coupe pedal car next to a busy road.
The other charge relates to another child, who Smith pushed out of a motorcar, before Dunn then abandoned her on May 8, 2015.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has dropped the manslaughter proceedings against her.
Smith additionally denied a charge of attempted witness intimidation on March 27 and this was ordered to lie on file.
Jurors had heard how the shameless pair, of Tamworth, could be seen standing by the boot of their car as Charlie played in the pool without armbands.
Smith was seen smoking and saying “for **** sake, we’re ready to go. I don’t know where he ******* is”, as the couple prepared to leave.
The schoolboy’s lifeless body was eventually pulled out of the paddling lake near Hinckley by a group of three boys, aged 10 and 11.
The court heard how the pair showed an “ingrained and entrenched indifference” towards Charlie and two strangers ended up supervising him at different times.
Between 12.50pm and him being pulled out of the water at 2.42pm, witnesses claimed he was constantly away from his parents “except for the odd minute”.
Others claimed Charlie was running around “like a Duracell rabbit”, diving in-and-out and was encouraging fellow youngsters to jump in too.
Prosecutor Mary Prior QC said: “This case is not about parents turning their back for a moment whilst a tragedy occurs.
“This is a gross failure to supervise, not for seconds, not for a few minutes.
“It is for protracted periods of time, in circumstances inevitably where children were exposed to danger.”
Jurors were also told how the young boys who discovered Charlie’s body thought it was just a child “messing around”.
Mrs Prior QC added: “Those boys were playing in the water. And as they were playing in the water, they felt something under their feet.
“They thought it was children messing around. But at one stage, one got a cut to his foot. They looked down, and realised that it was Charlie.”
On other occasions, in 2015, Charlie, then four, was seen going “perilously” close to busy roads whilst his parents had lost sight of him at home.
Another witness said she saw the couple leave the child unattended outside a property as Smith was busy “rummaging around” in a skip looking for discarded goods.