Sponsored by
Friends relive quarry drowning ordeal
BRAVE teenagers told an inquest how they battled in vain to save the life of a friend who drowned at a water-filled quarry.
The hearing, at Chesterfield magistrates’ court on Friday, was told how 15-year-old Ryan Walker shouted for help before sinking to his death at Fallgate Quarry, dubbed the Blue Lagoon, in May last year.
Thomas Mowbray, one of about 16 teenagers at the quarry, said: “I heard Walker shout, ‘help’, and I could see him on the other side of the Blue Lagoon.
“I jumped in and swam towards him but there was no sign and I searched under the water but couldn’t see him.”
Pal Ashley Radcliffe said: “Ryan was swimming and suddenly called for help and he kept going up and down so I got into the water with Tom and we swam towards him. We were five metres away when he disappeared.”
Searched
Other friends went to the top of the quarry to get a mobile signal and called emergency services.
The inquest heard the teenagers searched the water for about 15 minutes before police arrived and told them to clear the area.
Ryan’s mum Tracey Walker, of Clay Cross, was alerted and shortly afterwards his stepdad Jason Clark arrived at the scene.
Pc James Atkinson, of Nottinghamshire Constabulary’s underwater search team, recovered Ryan’s body at 8.50pm and a post-mortem confirmed the cause of death as drowning.
The inquest was told the entrance to the quarry, on Hockley Lane, had a locked gate but the teenagers climbed through a gap in the barbed wire fence on May 31 last year.
Nigel Anderson, deputy coroner for north Derbyshire, adjourned the inquest until a date to be fixed after he heard how quarry owner Jill Beighton was suffering anxiety and had failed to attend.
He said he expected a summons to be issued for her attendance at the next hearing.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Eastwood
Friday 10 February 2012
Today
Light snow
Temperature: -6 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: -2 C to -1 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South west
