Heartbroken father describes son's drowning

David’s father, Brian, relived his desperate attempt to drag the children from the bottom of a slimy and slippery pool and resuscitate them, after they were found in the grounds of a large house nearby.

Mr Smith told an inquest into the double tragedy in October 2004 that Shea’s younger brother led him to the scene, saying the pair were “up in the water”.

He said: “I saw two bodies floating in the water and I jumped in.

“I lifted the two boys but I couldn’t get up the ladder to get out of the pool with the two of them in my arms.

“I then tried to walk up the pool to the shallow end but I kept sliding back into the pool.

“There was nothing to grab hold of so I just started shouting and holding the two of them.

“I kept trying to get out, I even got Shea and threw him up onto the shallow end. The water was up to my waist.”

Mr Smith’s screams alerted his partner Tina, and Shea’s mother Cathy Campbell, who went to the scene.

“Tina got a rope and pulled me out of the pool,” Mr Smith said in his statement read out at Newry Coroner’s Court.

“Cathy was in a terrible state. I tried to give David mouth to mouth and then the ambulance came a short time later.”

Relatives of both victims packed into the small courtroom as the agonising events were recalled.

Both children had been playing with friends in the new housing development of Ardaveen Mews, where their families lived, but had been separated and gone off exploring.

Their curiosity had heartbreaking consequences when they came across a drained swimming pool to the side of a house on the Dublin Road.

Rainwater, leaves and algae had left it so treacherous that even a seemingly innocent paddle in the shallow end was too dangerous, the inquest heard.

Joan Smyth, who has lived at the property with her husband for eight years, said the pool was usually emptied at the end of August and then drained to remove rainwater.

But at the time of the tragedy its lining was ripped and Mrs Smyth was about to remove it and have it replaced.

David and Shea had been playing on tractors at Mr Smith’s home while he tidied his garden, checking regularly on the pair.

It was only when he looked once more and found they had gone that Mr Smith’s anxiety began.

Ms Campbell said Shea and her two other sons had all been playing with friends on the development that day. But later Mr Smith’s partner rushed into her house and urged her to come quickly.

She recalled: “I could see Tina standing down on the corner of Ardaveen Mews, she was holding her baby in her arms.

“She was screaming and crying: ’He’s over there, there’s something wrong.’

“She kept shouting: ’Brian, bring him over.’

“I could hear David’s daddy shouting but I couldn’t make out what he was saying. I saw a swimming pool and Brian was in the water. He was holding a child.

“Shea was lying on his back face up with his eyes open in the shallow end.

“I ran down and lifted him and just ran with him.”

Stephen Clayton, a crime scene investigator with the Police Service of Northern Ireland, said the most likely explanation had been that the children had walked down steps at the shallow end, only to slip under without warning.

Referring to the pool’s layout he said: “This wouldn’t have been any deeper than a puddle in places.

“But from this point here the incline would be extremely rapid.”

Coroner David Hunter confirmed that pathology tests on both boys showed they had died as a result of drowning.

In his findings he said: “My view is that this was an accident which sometimes happens when children are out playing.

“A swimming pool would be an obvious lure for young children.”

He stressed that no-one involved should have any reason to reproach themselves.

Mr Hunter added: “Children play and they will go off and look for adventures.

“When they go and explore and find something like this it’s an obvious attraction.

“This is a great tragedy for the families and I can only begin to imagine what pain they must be suffering.

“I hope today brings some form of closure for them.”