Mother is quizzed by murder squad over pool death of girl, 3
Police scan CCTV for clues after tragedy at spa hotel
MURDER squad detectives i nvestigating the death of a Scots toddler were last night still questioning the child’s mother.
Lancashire Police arrested a 40year-old woman on Thursday after the girl was dragged unconscious from the pool of a hotel in St Annes, near Blackpool.
Police have not identified her but she was named yesterday as Jane Bell, three, from Selkirkshire.
She was staying at the Dalmeny Hotel with her sister, Emma, five, and their parents Sarah and David, both 40, from Galashiels.
Stunned neighbours said the family left last weekend after Mrs Bell messaged a radio station and Facebook, saying: ‘Packing holiday stuff. Away to Lytham St Annes tomorrow with husband and two kids.’
Within days of their arrival at the threestar spa hotel, her child was dead and
‘Devastated for the poor little girl’
she was in custody on suspicion of murder.
Yesterday, 24 hours after the tragedy, Blackpool CID officers were examining CCTV footage to establish how the child got into the 20-metre pool and lay undetected for up to five minutes.
And as the i nquiry continued, it emerged a local grandmother, Carole Greenwood, 50, had come close to saving the child by rescuing and resuscitating her before paramedics arrived to take the critically injured girl to Blackpool Victoria Hospital.
From there she was transferred to Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, where she died several hours later.
Detectives were yesterday unable to confirm the cause of death which, at this stage in the inquiry, they cannot assume to be drowning.
A post-mortem examination will be carried out. But police confirmed a woman was still being held on suspicion of murder. They stressed, however, that this was no longer the sole line of inquiry.
Detective Chief Inspector Dean Holden said: ‘We are treating this tragic incident as an unexplained death. Our thoughts remain with the child’s family.’
A Lancashire Constabulary spokesman said: ‘Officers were called by the Ambulance Service shortly before 11am on Thursday to the Dalmeny Hotel. The child, on holiday from Scotland, was removed from the water.’
Former life guard and swimming instructor Carole Greenwood was the woman who rescued the child.
Mrs Greenwood, from St Annes, who was about to take her twoyear-old grandson swimming, said: ‘A lady came into the changing room, looking for a life guard. There had been an incident and a child was at the bottom of the pool.
‘My training kicked in. I dived in. She was unresponsive but I managed to resuscitate her and she was breathing when the ambulance arrived. I’m devastated for the poor little girl. Younger children need to wear flotation aids and older ones should be monitored.’
Last night, as Health and Safety officials began their own investigation, there was no comment from the 100-bedroom hotel.
But one guest said: ‘For what seemed like a long time, all hell seemed to break out. Staff were in the pool and a woman was screaming and ambulances hurtled into the car park.’
Assistant head teacher Simon Barr, on holiday from London with his wife and children, said: ‘I think it’s totally tragic for somebody to come on holiday and this to happen.
‘The atmosphere is pretty subdued. We heard a girl had been taken away by ambulance. It was only later we heard the girl died.’
Another guest, who did not want to be named, added: ‘The woman who was taken away by Police seemed to be in shock.’
In Tweed Road, Galashiels, neighbours of the family were equally stunned by the tragedy.
Supermarket worker Liz Reid said: ‘[Mrs Bell] kept herself to herself. The only time you saw her she was pushing her pram to the nursery. I can only imagine it has been a horrible accident. Everyone here is shocked.’
Another neighbour said: ‘ It doesn’t bear thinking about what the family is going through.’