Boy’s pool death ‘was preventable’

INQUEST: The father of a threeyear-old boy who drowned in a leisure centre pool has told an inquest his son’s death “could and should have been prevented”.

Steven Wright described how his panic grew as he searched for his son, Rocco, at the David Lloyd centre before he spotted him at the bottom of the pool.

THE FATHER of a three-year-old boy who drowned in a leisure centre pool has told an inquest his son’s death “could and should have been prevented”.

Steven Wright described how his panic grew as he searched for his son Rocco at the David Lloyd centre, in Moortown, Leeds, before he spotted him at the bottom of the main pool.

Giving evidence at an inquest in Wakefield, Mr Wright criticised ‘life guard visibility’ at the poolside.

He said: “We, as a family, are concerned at the levels of health and safety at the David Lloyd pool on the day Rocco died and hope they have been resolved – especially the life guard visibility at the pool area.

“We don’t want this to happen to anyone else. We believe Rocco’s death could and should have been prevented.”

Mr Wright explained how he was with Rocco and his daughter at the poolside on April 21, 2018, and was planning to take his son swimming as his daughter had her regular lesson. He said he had just been told the lesson had been cancelled when he realised Rocco was no longer by his side.

Mr Wright, who was still clutching Rocco’s life-jacket, described how he began to search for his son but did not think he would be in the pool as he had a “natural fear of water” and would never get into the water by himself.

Mr Wright said he looked along the poolside and into a corridor, thinking Rocco was hiding.

He said it was only after finding he was not in the baby pool that he “started to really, really panic”.

“That’s when I turned round and looked at the main pool,” he said. “That’s when I saw him.”

Mr Wright said: “I just saw an outline at the bottom of the pool. It was Rocco.”

He explained how he dived in, pulled his son to the side and people came over to help.

Asked about his son’s attitude to the water, Mr Wright said Rocco would not jump in by himself and would only get into a pool with his help but, agreed his son may have become more confident in the water following a recent family holiday in Barbados.

Mr Wright said he made the trip to the David Lloyd centre every Saturday with his two children and had been a member for about three years.

The jury was told by coroner Jonathan Leach that it is thought Rocco had been in the water for at least two minutes before he was pulled out.

Pathologist Kirsten Hope said she was told before she conducted a post-mortem examination that he had been in the water for five minutes.

Dr Hope said Rocco was put on a ventilator in hospital but declared dead the following day when his organs were used to save the lives of a number of other people.

Rocco’s mother Catharine Wright confirmed in a statement read to the court that her son had “never been a natural water baby”.

Billy Jayne, now 19, told the inquest he was the only lifeguard on duty at the time of the incident.

He said he was then 17-yearsold and worked part-time. Mr Jayne said he was first alerted to any problem when he saw someone jump in the pool and heard shouts and ran from his chair to help Rocco on the side of the pool.

The inquest, expected to last seven days, continues today.

We are concerned at the levels of safety at the David Lloyd pool.

Steven Wright, father of three-year-old Rocco who drowned in the leisure centre.