A coroner has concluded that an 11-year-old girl was unlawfully killed after she drowned at a waterpark in Berkshire in 2022.
Kyra Hill died after getting into difficulty in a designated swimming area at Liquid Leisure near Windsor while attending a birthday party on 6 August 2022.
Senior coroner Heidi Connor found there were gross breaches of health and safety measures at the park which contributed to her death.
The breaches related to the depth and visibility of the water and the absence of an emergency plan and risk assessment, she found.
An inquest at Berkshire Coroner’s Court heard how the schoolgirl was found more than an hour after emergency services were alerted and was taken to hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
The inquest heard there were no signs warning of deep water at the leisure park.
Despite various sharp drops of up to 4.5m (14.7ft) within the swimming zone, the only signs relating to depth said “danger shallow water”.
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The lake where Kyra was seen going under was 2.68m (8.8ft) deep, a report carried out after the incident found.
A 17-year-old lifeguard managed to reach the point where Kyra disappeared but staff at the centre are only qualified to perform “surface-water rescues” – not underwater ones.
The inquest heard evidence how there was a 10-minute gap between the first and second searches for the youngster in that part of the lake.
Although a manager attended rapidly, 37 minutes passed between Kyra struggling and 999 being called.
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The frantic search was likened to a “nightmare” by a mother attending the birthday party, while a police officer described it as a “chaotic scene” due to “conflicting” information being fed to the emergency crews.
The diver who eventually found Kyra told the inquest the lake had “almost zero visibility”.
Ms Connor noted parents and carers were not advised to attend with children in a ratio of one to four, and young children were permitted to swim without buoyancy aids.
There was also no emergency plan or risk assessment that took those factors into account, and no control measures were identified and put in place to “take account of these clear risks”, she said.
A post-mortem examination confirmed Kyra’s cause of death as “drowning”.
At the time of the incident, her father told Sky News she was “left to drown” and accused the operator of “neglect”.
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Speaking at court on Tuesday, Leonard Hill fought back tears as he read a pen portrait of his daughter.
He said: “Kyra was a beautiful, beaming beacon of light in the lives of all who were fortunate enough to know her.
“With her naturally enchanting, bright, and beautiful eyes – paired with the softest, sweetest and warmest smile – she captivated hearts effortlessly.
“A spirited individual, Kyra was resolute in her beliefs. She would stand up for what was right without hesitation, always the first to challenge a bully or defend a friend.
“Guided by an unwavering moral compass, she was a protector at heart, fiercely caring for her loved ones and always considering the feelings of others.”
His Manchester United-supporting daughter dreamed of becoming a professional footballer.
“Had that dream not become her reality, she had her back-up plan to pursue law and become a lawyer and fight for the truth, stating that she would ‘never defend evil people in court’,” he said.
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