A GIRL drowned at a birthday party at a leisure park as there were “no warning signs of deep water”, an inquest heard.
Kyra Hill, 11, sadly passed away at the Liquid Leisure park near Windsor in August 2022 and now the park’s director is facing the inquest.
Kyra Hill sadly drowned at Liquid Leisure in WindsorPA
The park’s director has now had to face an inquestAlamy
Tributes have been laid outside the Liquid Leisure centrePA
The inquest has previously heard that emergency services had been called to the scene at 3.55pm, when Kyra was reported missing.
Sadly, the 11-year-old was found just after 5.10pm – over an hour after she vanished – and was taken to Wexham Park Hospital, where she was sadly pronounced dead.
Kyra was described by the senior coroner as a girl “who supported Manchester United and who dreamt of a career in law”.
Now, the park’s owner and director Stuart Marston has had to face the inquest into Kyra’s death.
The inquest was initially told that a post-mortem examination has given the cause of the youngster’s death as drowning.
Mr Marston was asked whether it was reasonable for guests to assume that all of the water features at the centre were shallow – just because the signs stated that they were.
In fact, there were “various sharp drops” at the park of up to 4.5m in the swimming zone according to senior coroner Heidi Connor.
Berkshire’s Coroner Court were told that the lake where Kyra was seen going under was actually 2.68m.
However, the only signs relating to depth in the designated swimming zone said “danger shallow water”.
Speaking about whether a parent would be right to assume that the signs only indicated shallow water, the park’s director said: “You could interpret it in different ways but, yes, you could interpret it that way.”
He added: “We were told to put danger shallow water signs around the facility so people didn’t jump in.
“It’s very difficult, in hindsight now… if there was a deep water sign there and also shallow water (signs), it would be conflicting.”
Mr Marston initially told the inquest he believed “to the best of my knowledge” that the depth of the water in the beach area had been measured before Kyra’s death.
Rachel Marcus, representing the Hill family, then said that they had not seen any documentation stating it had been measured.
Mr Marston responded: “I would say then if you haven’t seen anything then it hasn’t been tested.
“Tested in the way of the robot coming in and doing the underground stuff, then, no, we haven’t done any testing on the swimming area.”
At the leisure centre, people are required to sign a waiver stating that they were a competent swimmer, were able to exit the water without assistance and had a reasonable level of fitness.
Life jackets are also not required for people over six years of age.
The inquest also heard that there was one lifeguard overseeing over 42 people in the water.
The rules of the park state that there needs to be one lifeguard per 30 participants.
In response, the park’s owner claimed that other lifeguards were stationed at nearby activities and would have been on hand to help.
He said: “Others do look around because it’s never at full capacity on all of the activities.”
However, the director later accepted that more lifeguards should have been on duty.
The coroner added that the park’s beach starts off as sand before becoming “silt and mud” – which can decrease water visibility.
Ms Marcus said that this muddy bottom could make it more difficult for guests to push off from, but Mr Marston refuted this claim.
The coroner said: “This inquest is going to be very difficult, predominantly for Kyra’s family, I’m very much aware of that.”
The hearing continues.
Kyra was found over an hour before she was reported missingPA: Press Association Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
