THE mother of a young man who drowned in a York river has thrown her full backing behind The Press’s Think, Don’t Swim campaign.

Jonathan Havron, 18, of Huntington, who was a student at Bishop Burton College, disappeared on February 27, 2010, at the end of a night out in the city centre.

Police and his family launched a massive search for the teenager, which ended tragically when his body was found in the River Foss a fortnight later.

The new campaign was launched after another three people drowned in York’s rivers this year, including bartender Richard Horrocks, 21, who died in July after jumping into the Ouse from the balcony of a riverside bar and getting into difficulties in the water.

Think, Don’t Swim, which is backed by Richard’s family, aims to prevent further tragedies by raising awareness of the dangers of jumping or falling in the water. A poster blitz of city centre bars and York St John University has been launched and the message will be promoted later through beer mats and a film.

Jonathan’s mother, Joanne Wigmore, said of the campaign: “I think it’s brilliant. It has been a long time coming, but it’s great it is happening.

“If it saves one life, and prevents a family going through what my family, and the families of these other people, are going through, it will be worth it. I fully support it.”

She said that as well as raising awareness of the dangers, she would also like to see action taken to make the riversides safer for people walking by, for example by installing fencing in some places.

She said there were footpaths and tracks along the side of both the Ouse and Foss with nothing to prevent someone slipping off the bank and in to the water.