THE owners of a hotel where a three-year-old girl drowned in a swimming pool that had no lifeguard have been fined £100,000.
Jane Bell, from Galashiels, in the Borders, was on holiday with her family when she got into difficulty at the Dalmeny Hotel, in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, in August 2014.
She had been in the water for almost two minutes before hotel guest Carole Greenwood dived in and brought her to the poolside.
Jane later died in Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. The family- run hotel pled guilty to breaching health and safety regulations by failing to ensure the safety of people using the pool.
Preston Crown Court heard that, despite the pool being almost 8ft deep (2.4 metres) , it was being supervised on CCTV by reception staff who were carrying out other duties.
David Bell, Jane’s father, travelled from Galashiels to attend the sentence hearing.
In a victim impact statement, he said: “It is hard to fully put into words the impact losing Jane has had on us as a family.
“The hearing coincides with what should be Jane’s sixth birthday and instead of being a day of celebration and happiness, we find ourselves mourning the loss of someone so precious to us.
“The images of standing at Jane’s bed, watching helplessly as a team of doctors and nurses fight to save her life, are ones that will haunt me forever. I can still see Jane, lying on the bed, lifeless, where a few hours previous, she had been a happy, laughing and loved daughter.”
Jane had been on holiday with her parents and six-year-old sister when she lost her life.
Moments before the tragedy, a member of staff from the hotel’s leisure complex was on foot patrol and spotted Jane sitting by the deep end of the pool.
The toddler was not wearing armbands but no action was taken to prevent her entering the water.
After getting into the pool with her mother Sarah, Jane sank to the bottom. A member of staff at the hotel jumped in fully clothed but was unable to reach the toddler due to the depth of the water. Jane was eventually brought to the poolside by guest Mrs Greenwood, who was a trained swimming instructor, An off-duty paramedic started resuscitation at the poolside but Jane suffered cardiac arrest and died later that day.
The hotel’s owners admitted an offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
As well as being fined £100,000, they were ordered to pay costs of almost £20,000.
The Honorary Recorder of Preston, Judge Mark Brown, sentencing, said: “This is a very tragic accident involving the death of a young child in the early years of her life.
“It seems to me that the defendant must take significant responsibility for what happened. As well, the accident should be an important warning to parents about the dangers of the swimming pool and just how easily a young child can drown.
“At the very least Jane should have been wearing buoyancy protection when she entered the water and she should never have been allowed to go to the deep end. She was only three years old.”
The court heard that, since Jane’s death, the hotel’s owners have instructed new health and safety advisers as their previous consultants had not alerted them to shortcomings in their poolside procedures.
Work has also been carried out to reduce the depth of the pool to just under 5ft (1.5m, in accordance with modern designs and safety recommendations).
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