A LIFEGUARD told an inquest how she dived into a swimming pool to try and help an eight-year-old boy.

Kaimen Ward, of Northallerton, drowned last August in the pool at the town’s Hambleton Leisure Centre.

Lifeguard Amy Linton told the inquest yesterday she heard “a commotion” in the pool.

“There was a group of about four people standing in a circle. They were holding Kaimen above the surface of the water.”

She swam to the group, and carried Kaimen, a non-swimmer, out of the pool before colleagues tried to revive him, but he was later pronounced dead at the Friarage Hospital.

On Wednesday, the inquest heard three teenagers, aged 15 and 16 at the time, had taken Kaimen swimming accompanied by other children. They had earlier been warned about their behaviour as leisure centre staff suspected they had been drinking.

Andrew Coulthard, a duty officer at the centre, questioned them and smelled the breath of two older boys. Centre manager Paula Ferguson accepted there would be lessons learned from the tragedy.

Kaimen was found at the bottom of the pool towards the end of a public swimming session.

Asked whether Hambleton District Council, which runs the centre, had considered installing equipment able to detect stationary objects on the bottom of swimming pools, Ms Ferguson said it was not something that had been looked at.

Julian Franklin, a Health and Safety Executive inspector, who investigated the tragedy, said: “My inquiry concentrated on the arrangements for safeguarding people using the pool and, generally speaking, they were of the best industry standard.”

The jury will consider its verdict today.