Boy died after being ‘dared to jump canal’

TEENAGER FELL INTO WATER ON WINTER’S EVENING, INQUEST TOLD

A TEENAGER who died after falling into a canal may have been ‘dared’ to jump over it, an inquest heard.

Declan McNally, 15, died after falling into the Ashton Canal in Droylsden in January.

An inquest into his death heard he had attempted to jump over a lock but slipped, hit his head on a wall and fell into the water.

He died in hospital despite ‘truly heroic’ efforts to save him by emergency services.

A coroner ruled it was likely he was ‘dared’ to do it as part of ‘banter’ among those he was with at the canalside. His family told the hearing the fact he had previously been bullied meant he ‘would have felt he had to do it.’

The coroner said there was no evidence he was forced or threatened in any way.

Aspiring boxer Declan, from Beswick, was with a group of five other youths who met up in Droylsden town centre before deciding to head to the stretch of canal around Lock 18, where witnesses said they were listening to music and ‘messing around’ on January 22.

He was seen by two women in a house overlooking the canal to run and jump. The inquest heard that after attempting to jump, he did not make it to the other side and hit in his head and throat on a stone wall before falling more than seven feet into the water.

Declan was to taken to the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital but died in the early hours. A postmortem concluded he died of severe hypoxic brain injury, caused by prolonged cardiac arrest, which was in turn caused by drowning. No alcohol or drugs were found in his system.

His mother, Samantha McNally, said the Droylsden Academy pupil enjoyed staying in playing his Playstation and that he ‘hadn’t

Declan McNally fell in the water at Lock 18 on the Ashton Canal been out in months.’ Det Insp David Loughlin, from GMP’s Tameside division, said there was ‘certainly a suggestion there was some daring going on.’

He said: “The witness didn’t deem it to aggressive, nasty or derogatory, just teenagers being teenagers.” He said it ‘wouldn’t be a criminal offence’ to egg someone to jump especially given they believed he had successfully jumped it before.

In response, Declan’s grandmother, Julie Walker, told the hearing, ‘well, it should be.’ She said: “Because of the bullying he has been through over the years, that would have appeared different to him. He would have felt he had to do it, if that’s what was going on.”

Coroner Chris Morris recorded a conclusion of misadventure at South Manchester Coroner’s Court in Stockport. He said: “There is no evidence he was pushed, threatened or in any way the victim of a criminal offence.”