Ex-hotelier walks free in pool drowning case

The trial of the former owners of a Cornish hotel, where a five-year-old boy drowned in the murky waters of the swimming pool, was cut short last week.

Paul Malcolm Burns, 47, of Fairfield Place, Newquay, changed his plea from not guilty to guilty after the prosecution finished its case at Truro Crown Court. He was given a conditional discharge for two years.

Originally, Burns had faced seven charges related to the Castaways Beach Hotel, Newquay, where five-year-old Joshua Curtis-Moore of Sale, Cheshire, drowned in 1997.

The charges were eventually reduced to three: failing to provide adequate and conspicuous safety notices within the pool area, failing to prevent unauthorised access to the pool, and failing to provide adequate precautions against unattended bathing by children.

The court heard that since the accident, a bank had repossessed the hotel. Burns now owed £300,000, his marriage had broken up, he had received hospital treatment for depression and was living on benefit.

Expert witness Dr Philip Penny said the hotel's pool was inherently dangerous and the worst he had seen in 40 years. It should have been closed in 1992, or a lifeguard employed whenever it was open, he said.

Burns received a conditional discharge for two years only because he was unable to pay any fine, said the judge. No evidence was offered against Burns' wife Nita, 47, who was acquitted.

The court heard that Burns had closed the pool because of the cloudy water the day before the tragedy, and until 2.30pm on the day of the drowning.

He had called in a specialist company to clear the water, but had not been told of the need to vacuum sediment from the bottom of the pool.

Restormel Council environmental health officer Richard Hooton told the court that the pool had not been inspected for seven years following a risk assessment in 1992.

Although the local authority was required to make arrangements for the enforcement of the Health & Safety Act, it did not have a statutory duty to inspect the pool, said Hooton.

But when the pool was inspected after the tragedy, a prohibition order was issued.

After conditionally discharging Burns, Judge Graham Cottle said: "It also reflects my view that Restormel Council were quite seriously at fault in carrying out their duties."

by Douglas Bence