Couple who left son to drown in lake were poor parents, judge concludes

♦ A judge pointed to an “abundance” of evidence of poor parenting as he sentenced a stepfather and mother who left their “terrified” child to drown in a water park.

Paul Smith, 36, left five-year-old Charlie Dunn – who was scared of water – unsupervised without armbands in the 4ft 6in lake for around two hours on July 23 last year.

The boy’s body was beneath the water at the Blue Lagoon lake at Bosworth Water Park near Hinckley, Leics, for at least 22 minutes and was finally pulled out by three older boys.

Smith had originally gone on trial after denying manslaughter by gross negligence, but changed his plea. He also admitted intimidating a witness, as he was jailed for seven and a half years. Charlie’s mother, Lynsey Dunn, 28, was charged with the same offence, but later admitted two lesser counts of child cruelty. One related to an incident in 2015, in which she left Charlie unsupervised in a pedal car to drive down a grass mound towards a busy road. She was given eightmonths, suspended for two years, and a 20-day rehabilitation requirement.

Judge Nerys Jefford, sentencing at Birmingham Crown Court, said: “I do not doubt that both Lynsey Dunn and Paul Smith had genuine love and affection towards Charlie. But there was an abundance of evidence that you were poor parents.”