Father drowned in sea during lockdown after lifeguard delay

A FATHER drowned in the sea during lockdown when there was no official lifeguard cover, an inquest heard.

Michael Pender, 63, drowned off Treyarnon Bay near Padstow on a bank holiday Monday in May 2020.

He was one of three people who died off the Cornish coast between May and Aug 2020, the first day of the week-long inquest at Cornwall Coroners’ Court in Truro heard yesterday.

At the time of the deaths there were no lifeguards working because the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) had delayed deploying the lifesavers owing to the Covid pandemic.

As Mr Pender struggled in the water, an off-duty lifeguard who was around the beach risked his own life to paddle out to the father-of-two, but was unable to save his life.

Mr Pender’s daughters said in a statement to Andrew Cox, senior Cornwall coroner, they hope “the truth will come to light” so they can get the “closure we so desperately need”.

Jacqueline Hargreaves, Mr Pender’s partner, said he was a strong swimmer and knew about the “difficult currents”.

She said that there had been a number of deaths there in previous years of which Mr Pender, who lived in nearby St Merryn, was aware.

But she said that on that day there were no warning flags. Mr Pender died after being swept out to sea under a wave. Edward Hanwell, an off-duty lifeguard, reacted quickly and paddled out into the water as a full-scale rescue operation was launched with the Padstow lifeboat and a coastguard helicopter.

Ms Hargreaves claimed that if lifeguards had been on official duty then they may have been able to save Mr Pender, and may have erected red warning flags or even closed the beach because of the conditions.

Police said there were signs saying that there were no lifeguards on duty and not to enter the water. Lifeguards were due to patrol the beach on June 27 2020, two days after his death.

Det Con Andrew Petherick said the RNLI had delayed its deployment of lifeguards but had published a warning to be extremely cautious going into the sea.

Jan Klempar, 30, from Walsall, drowned at Porthcurno beach, a sandy cove in Cornwall in June 2020. Mr Cox said the Czech national Mr Klempar, a butcher who lived in Walsall, died as a result of drowning on what was their first trip to the seaside.

His partner Ilona Adiova said: “There was no Baywatch or [life] guard present.”

But Luke Roberts, a surfer, said that there was a sign saying “do not swim, no lifeguards present and strong rip currents”.

The inquest into the third victim, Paul Mullen, from Herts, who died in Aug 2020 at Gunwalloe, a coastal civil parish in Cornwall, will be heard today.