Open verdict on lake death (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Open verdict on lake death

THE splutters of a drowning man were heard by four pals enjoying a late-night lakeside drink, an inquest heard.

But it was not until the next day that the body of Alex Ward, 21, was found lying on the bottom of a water skiing lake at the Holborne Cotswold Water Park, where he worked as a chef.

He was last seen at around midnight at a lakeside bar where he had asked after a friend.

The next day, June 19, his body was pulled from the bottom of Lake 14 at the water park.

On Thursday, an open verdict was recorded on his death by the Cotswold coroner, Lester Maddrell.

The inquest heard that after a night spent drinking on June 18 at the Watermark club, a restaurant and bar at the resort, water skiing teacher Will Gibney and three female friends went to his lodge next door where they sat out on the balcony and continued drinking.

In evidence at the Cirencester inquest Mr Gibney told how all four heard what they thought was spluttering coming from the middle of the lake at around 12.30am.

"There were two coughs, then more coughs and a swirling sound on the water like someone swimming," he said.

Friend Fiona Armitage said she heard by a "coughing and spluttering, as was fellow holidaymaker Kate Barrett.

After calling out across the lake and receiving no response, Mr Gibney took his speedboat out on the lake to look for what he believed was a swimmer in distress. But he found nothing.

He told the site manager and went out again in the boat but again found nothing.

Mr Ward was found fully-clothed by underwater police search teams at 3.42pm on June 19 lying face-up on the bottom of Lake 14, 35 metres from the shore in water 2.5 metres deep and 22 degrees Celsius in temperature.

Mr Ward's mother, Dawn Stevens, said her son had been a good swimmer and after breaking both collarbones in a motorbike crash in December 2002 had expressed a desire to 'go swimming to build up strength in his shoulders.'

She told how on June 19 she reported her son missing to police after visiting his caravan following a call from his employer that he had not reported for work.

Consultant pathologist Dr Keith McCarthy confirmed drowning as the cause of death.

Mr Ward's blood alcohol reading was found to be twice the legal driving limit - a reading Dr McCarthy said would have been higher prior to death.

This was in keeping with Holborne staff accounts of Mr Ward drinking three pints of bitter and two large whiskies in the half an hour after he finished work in the kitchen.

He was escorted off the premises when he became physically aggressive towards the clubhouse boss, the inquest heard.

Mr Ward phoned his father, Jeffery Ward, at 11.30pm on June 18 last year, to say that one of the staff members at the Holborne had called his former girlfriend Lianne a 'whore' - an accusation denied by club boss Gareth Cuthbert.

The hearing was told that Mr Ward had returned home from early from a stay in Canada in 2002 when Lianne had been killed in a road accident - an event that led in turn to her sister committing suicide.

Mr Ward's father said that after the altercation at the Holborne club house he was 'particularly upset' and it took three calls to calm his son down.

In the hour that followed a drunken Mr Ward walked from his caravan - provided by his employer - to the nearby Watermark Brasserie where he asked for the whereabouts of Eddie Stokes, a friend who works as an assistant speedboat driver at the resort.

In accordance with staff policy Mr Stokes' lodge number was not given out. Mr Gibney told the hearing how he found the covering on his boat had been removed and the ignition light turned on in what appeared to be an attempt to start the engine. But the vessel had not been moved from its mooring, he said.

Recording an open verdict Cotswold coroner Lester Maddrell said there simply was no evidence of suicidal intent.

The coroner asked: 'Did he fall in? Was he pushed? If so, why was he found 35 metres from the bank?'

He added: 'He was upset regarding some name-calling of a girlfriend. "He had been drinking heavily and tending towards physical aggression and he was emotional."

The coroner apologised for not being able to present exact times for the events on the night of Mr Ward's death - a matter over which his father expressed anger.

Explaining that the evidence was based on differing accounts by witnesses, many of whom had been drinking, the coroner said: "There must be nothing worse that not knowing."

Speaking after the hearing Mrs Stevens said she was happy with the verdict on her son's death and thanked the police for their support.

"As a mother who has lost a child I would like to blame someone," she said.

"But perhaps there is no-one to blame."

Verdict: Open