Lifeguards charged after father drowns

Two lifeguards from Wolverhampton have been charged with failing to carry out their duties at work after a father drowned in a Walsall swimming pool.

Alex Cotterill and Richard Leek are accused of not doing their jobs properly on the day Adrian Miles died at the Walsall Campus of Wolverhampton University. They have been charged by the Health and Safety Executive with a breach of general duty at work on July 27, 2006, following an investigation which has been going on for nearly two years.

The case against Cotterill, aged 27, of Yale Road, Willenhall, and Leek, aged 29, of Broad Lane South, Wednesfield, is due before Walsall Magistrates Court on September 2.

Mr Miles, aged 48, of Sutton Road, Walsall, was found at the bottom of the pool he was using as part of his rehabilitation after being seriously hurt in a charity rugby match.

The flanker for Walsall Rugby Club was airlifted to Selly Oak Hospital then transferred to the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Oswestry following the match against Wednesbury in May 2005.

The father-of-three, who served in the Royal Anglia Regiment, was temporarily paralysed, and had used the pool in Gorway Road to assist his recovery.

A five-day inquest into his death was held in May last year and a jury returned a narrative verdict that he died as a result of drowning and a previous spinal injury. Leek and Cotterill, formerly of Penn, were the lifeguards on duty at the time of his death.

Following the inquest Mr Miles' wife Ann said the family had been devastated by his loss and his fightback from the rugby injury had been an inspiration to everyone.

After his death close friend Rob Hardy also paid tribute saying: "Adrian had made such a fightback. There was a time when he thought he would never walk again.

"But he battled through it and got back 75 to 80 per cent of his mobility. He was able to drive a car and get back to work."

The case was listed at Walsall Magistrates Court yesterday but the hearing was adjourned for the later date in September.

The charges have been made under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and neither defendant has made a plea.