Spencer Hurst's mother makes safety plea after Walsall pool tragedy
The mother of a schoolboy who drowned in a Walsall pool has said safety must be improved at the site to stop anyone else dying after a coroner criticised a lack of security.
Joanne Fellows said she did not want another family to suffer the same heartache as she has after her son Spencer Hurst died at Ryders Hayes Mere in Pelsall.
The 15-year-old got into difficulty while swimming with friends during the June heatwave.
His death was the second at the lake in a decade after Kee-rian White, 17, drowned there in 2007.
Miss Fellows, 47, said: “It happened 10 years ago and it happened to us. I don’t want it to happen again. There needs to be something done.”
She was speaking following a pre-inquest hearing where Black Country coroner Zafar Siddique revealed he would write a preventing future deaths report to the company which owns the pool, Parkhill Estates.
The coroner said he had ‘grave concerns’ about the safety of the lake and the potential danger to other children.
Mr Siddique said nothing had been done since Spencer died at the site.
Spencer got into difficulty while swimming with friends at the pool which is popular with children.
He was pulled out by divers but pronounced dead a short time later.
Speaking at a pre-inquest hearing, Mr Siddique said he had taken the ‘unusual step’ to write a report as he was so concerned about the danger to other children.
He insisted he had an obligation to act if he felt there was a ‘risk to life’.
The director of the company that owns the Pelsall site, Parkhill Estates, has been summoned to attend a full inquest scheduled for next month.
Mr Siddique said: “It is not clear to me about signage there and if anything is being done. It causes me some real concerns.
“I will write a report to the company to try to prevent further deaths and for them to consider immediate signage and immediate steps to be taken.
“It causes me real concern that nothing has effectively happened since June.
"There may have been signage put up in the past but it doesn’t seem to be the case (now).
"It is an unusual step I am taking because no steps have been taken. It is not to apportion blame but I do have grave concerns about what is happening.”
Mr Siddique also requested that Walsall Council be represented at the inquest on September 18 as he wanted to know if the authority has had involvement over the site.
He added: “It is the second death that has happened at this particular location and it is not clear to me what action the local authority has taken or whether Environmental Health officers have been involved. I think the tact they have taken is this is private land but I have had nothing from them.”
Spencer’s mother Joanne Fellows, aged 47, said the lake must be made safer to prevent any future deaths.
A spokeswoman for Walsall Council said: “The coroner requested information concerning the planning history of the site and this has been provided.
"Further information was requested today and this will be supplied.”
