£200 fine for pool tragedy

A lifeguard has been fined £200 for failing to supervise a swimming pool after a father-of-three who lay at the bottom for at least 25 minutes drowned.

Alex Cotterill chatted to female friends while Adrian Miles died in the deep end of the pool at the Walsall campus of Wolverhampton University.

No verdict was reached in the case of fellow on-duty lifeguard Richard Leek, of Broad Lane South, Wednesfield, and a jury at Wolverhampton Crown Court was discharged yesterday after almost 10-and-a-half hours of deliberations.

The Health and Safety Executive now has seven days to decide whether to pursue a re-trial of Leek.

Cotterill, 28, of Leighton Road, Penn, Wolverhampton, has been working as a supply teacher since quitting his role as a lifeguard not long after the death of Mr Miles on July 27, 2006.

The £200 fine was calculated having taken into account his income. Neither defendant would comment.

A three-week trial heard Cotterill was responsible for observing the deep end of the Gorway Road pool. Witnesses told how he was talking to female friends about a forthcoming graduation ball rather than patrolling the pool.

Cotterill denied this but was found guilty of failing to take reasonable care of pool users. Judge Michael Dudley said Cotterill was not charged with bringing about the death of Mr Miles but for not paying attention the pool. He told him: "The real punishment is the conviction which will impact on your future."

Mr Miles, of Sutton Road, Walsall, was left paralysed after a rugby injury in 2005.

By Craig Hughes