Staff describe ‘nightmare' search for girl, 11, who drowned at water park
The search for an 11-year old girl who had drowned at a water park during a birthday party was 'like a nightmare,' an inquest into the death has heard.
Kyra Hill got into difficulty in a designated swimming area at Liquid Leisure near Windsor, Berkshire, in August 2022.
A 17-year-old lifeguard named Abbi reported concerning splashing in the beach area where Kyra was eventually found, Berkshire Coroner's Court heard.
However, searches for the girl were initially carried out on land and in other parts of the lake, the inquest was told.
Loud music was playing and a mother searching for Kyra shouted at a senior member of staff to turn it off, the inquest heard on Wednesday.
Kelly Edwards, who was attending the birthday party, said she also called on staff to ask members of the public to leave the water, but it was not cleared until emergency services arrived.
The administration services manager recalled 'shouting, screaming Kyra's name' as she walked around the park.
She became emotional as she said: 'It just seemed that nothing was taken seriously, nothing was deemed as an emergency, and I feel so angry with myself every day that I came out (of the water) and no-one went to the children and asked them where Kyra was.'
The lifeguard who responded to the scene was a school pupil at the time and Ms Edwards described her as a 'little girl' because she looked young.
'My daughter was asked by the lifeguard to keep looking for her, had she got any goggles, and to keep looking for Kyra in the water.
'She was seen in the water, and for myself and for us we were told she was missing, so we were looking on the land, and to know someone had seen her and said 'I've seen someone gone down in the water', and for her not to be listened to. I couldn't, can't get my head around it.'
She added: 'It just felt like I was in this nightmare, the sort of thing you watch on the TV and you, you think, well, that would never happen.'
Ms Edwards said she shouted at a senior of member of staff that people were still in the water.
Members of the public got out after the mother started screaming 'can everyone just stop and start calling Kyra's name, because she must be somewhere', she said.
People gathered in a line to swim the width of the lake, she said, adding that she believed this was ordered by a lifeguard.
They swam past the designated swimming area, where Kyra would later be found, and into the main lake, the inquest heard.
One person suggested diving down with goggles, but a staff member said 'no, no, no, you can't dive down because it's almost like being in the ocean, your breathing and everything has got to be taken into account – it's really, really deep', Ms Edwards said.
She told the inquest: 'There was another guest there and I was saying 'I can't see in the water, once you've put your head down it's so murky you couldn't see anything'.
'It was so deep, it was so deep in that area, I said 'I can't get to the bottom' and he said 'no, nor can I'.'
The only depth-warning signs around the beach area said 'danger shallow water' and Ms Edwards said she thought it would therefore be 'knee height'.
Ms Edwards said: 'When I went into the water to look for Kyra you only had to step a few feet and it just dropped, massively.'
There were 'various sharp drops' of up to 4.5m (14.7ft) within the swimming zone, the inquest heard on Tuesday.
The lake was 2.68m (8.8ft) deep where Kyra was seen going under, a report carried out after the incident found.
Lifeguard Abbi responded to concerning splashing at 3.20pm and a previous hearing was told emergency services were called to the scene at 3.55pm.
Kyra was found just after 5.10pm and taken to Wexham Park Hospital in Slough, where she was pronounced dead.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
29 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Rioters torch cars and attack police in Salford
A 16-year-old girl has been arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer after riot police tackled 'serious disorder' in Greater Manchester. There were reports of cars being set alight and bricks being thrown during the disturbance in Salford. Around 60 youths gathered on Lower Broughton Road at about 1.30pm on Wednesday, using cars and wheelie bins to block off the road. There were reports of vehicles being stolen, damaged and burnt out, motorbikes being used and bricks thrown at officers, Greater Manchester Police said.
The Independent
38 minutes ago
- The Independent
With retail cyberattacks on the rise, customers find orders blocked and and empty shelves
A string of recent cyberattacks and data breaches involving the systems of major retailers have started affecting shoppers. United Natural Foods, a wholesale distributor that supplies Whole Foods and other grocers, said this week that a breach of its systems was disrupting its ability to fulfill orders — leaving many stores without certain items. In the U.K., consumers could not order from the website of Marks & Spencer for more than six weeks — and found fewer in-store options after hackers targeted the British clothing, home goods and food retailer. A cyberattack on Co-op, a U.K. grocery chain, also led to empty shelves in some stores. Cyberattacks have been on the rise across industries. But infiltrations of corporate technology carry their own set of implications when the target is a consumer-facing business. Beyond potentially halting sales of physical goods, breaches can expose customers' personal data to future phishing or fraud attempts. Here's what you need to know. Cyberattacks are on the rise overall Despite ongoing efforts from organizations to boost their cybersecurity defenses, experts note that cyberattacks continue to increase across the board. In the past year, there's also been an 'uptick in the retail victims" of such attacks, said Cliff Steinhauer, director of information security and engagement at the National Cybersecurity Alliance, a U.S. nonprofit. 'Cyber criminals are moving a little quicker than we are in terms of securing our systems," he said. Ransomware attacks — in which hackers demand a hefty payment to restore hacked systems — account for a growing share of cyber crimes, experts note. And of course, retail isn't the only affected sector. Tracking by NCC Group, a global cybersecurity and software escrow firm, showed that industrial businesses were most often targeted for ransomware attacks in April, followed by companies in the 'consumer discretionary' sector. Attackers know there's a particular impact when going after well-known brands and products that shoppers buy or need every day, experts note. 'Creating that chaos and that panic with consumers puts pressure on the retailer,' Steinhauer said, especially if there's a ransom demand involved. Ade Clewlow, an associate director and senior adviser at the NCC Group, points specifically to food supply chain disruptions. Following the cyberattacks targeting M&S and Co-op, for example, supermarkets in remote areas of the U.K., where inventory already was strained, saw product shortages. 'People were literally going without the basics,' Clewlow said. Personal data is also at risk Along with impacting business operations, cyber breaches may compromise customer data. The information can range from names and email addresses, to more sensitive data like credit card numbers, depending on the scope of the breach. Consumers therefore need to stay alert, according to experts. 'If (consumers have) given their personal information to these retailers, then they just have to be on their guard. Not just immediately, but really going forward," Clewlow said, noting that recipients of the data may try to commit fraud 'downstream.' Fraudsters might send look-alike emails asking a retailer's account holders to change their passwords or promising fake promotions to get customers to click on a sketchy link. A good rule of thumb is to pause before opening anything and to visit the company's recognized website or call an official customer service hotline to verify the email, experts say. It's also best not to reuse the same passwords across multiple websites — because if one platform is breached, that login information could be used to get into other accounts, through a tactic known as 'credential stuffing.' Steinhauer adds that using multifactor authentication, when available, and freezing your credit are also useful for added lines of defense. Which companies have reported recent cybersecurity incidents? A range of consumer-facing companies have reported cybersecurity incidents recently — including breaches that have caused some businesses to halt operations. United Natural Foods, a major distributor for Whole Foods and other grocers across North America, took some of its systems offline after discovering 'unauthorized activity' on June 5. In a securities filing, the company said the incident had impacted its 'ability to fulfill and distribute customer orders." United Natural Foods said in a Wednesday update that it was 'working steadily' to gradually restore the services. Still, that's meant leaner supplies of certain items this week. A Whole Foods spokesperson told The Associated Press via email that it was working to restock shelves as soon as possible. The Amazon-owned grocer's partnership with United Natural Foods currently runs through May 2032. Meanwhile, a security breach detected by Victoria's Secret last month led the popular lingerie seller to shut down its U.S. shopping site for nearly four days, as well as to halt some in-store services. Victoria's Secret later disclosed that its corporate systems also were affected, too, causing the company to delay the release of its first quarter earnings. Several British retailers — M&S, Harrods and Co-op — have all pointed to impacts of recent cyberattacks. The attack targeting M&S, which was first reported around Easter weekend, stopped it from processing online orders and also emptied some store shelves. The company estimated last month that the it would incur costs of 300 million pounds ($400 million) from the attack. But progress towards recovery was shared Tuesday, when M&S announced that some of its online order operations were back — with more set to be added in the coming weeks. Other breaches exposed customer data, with brands like Adidas, The North Face and reportedly Cartier all disclosing that some contact information was compromised recently. In a statement, The North Face said it discovered a 'small-scale credential stuffing attack' on its website in April. The company reported that no credit card data was compromised and said the incident, which impacted 1,500 consumers, was 'quickly contained.' Meanwhile, Adidas disclosed last month that an 'unauthorized external party' obtained some data, which was mostly contact information, through a third-party customer service provider. Whether or not the incidents are connected is unknown. Experts like Steinhauer note that hackers sometimes target a piece of software used by many different companies and organizations. But the range of tactics used could indicate the involvement of different groups. Companies' language around cyberattacks and security breaches also varies — and may depend on what they know when. But many don't immediately or publicly specify whether ransomware was involved. Still, Steinhauer says the likelihood of ransomware attacks is 'pretty high' in today's cybersecurity landscape — and key indicators can include businesses taking their systems offline or delaying financial reporting. Overall, experts say it's important to build up 'cyber hygiene" defenses and preparations across organizations. 'Cyber is a business risk, and it needs to be treated that way," Clewlow said.
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Why Starmer's homelessness reform could see Britain overrun by rough sleepers
The 'tent city' on Park Lane, in the central reservation near Hyde Park Corner, comprises 23 tents, tables, office chairs, shopping trolleys and washing lines. A neatly stacked pile of bin bags lies to one side while Lime bikes have been discarded around the settlement. A handful of large white signs are stacked up, reading: 'I'm hungry, God bless.' Those living here suggest there is little difference between their circumstances and those of the thousands of rough sleepers across the country, who will be decriminalised under plans announced by Sir Keir Starmer this week. To tourists, residents and those working in the surrounding Mayfair streets, however, the scene might more aptly be described as illegal camping. 'It's not good at all, but we don't have a permanent place where we can wait for approval from City Hall [for housing],' says Mihai, 54, from Romania, the only inhabitant prepared to speak to The Telegraph, who refuses to give his surname. 'Would you like to live here?' He says he has lived at the site for two years, has indefinite leave to remain in the UK and works as a cleaner. He has also camped at Marble Arch and in Hyde Park. There were more people in the camp previously, he says, but they have gradually been found housing. A mile to the east, at Tottenham Court Road, Mel, 60, who also refuses to give his surname, lives in another encampment with his nephews Danny, 27, and Liam, 22, and their dogs, Cain and Sierra. Mel was born in west London and says he used to have three full-time jobs – in sales and advertising, as an estate agent and as a supervisor at a bowling alley – but has been living on the street for six years since he was kicked out of his council house over a dispute with a neighbour. 'It's not a choice for me living on the street,' he says. 'If it was, I wouldn't have been here for nearly seven years now.' He adds that Romanian migrants are more comfortable living this way. 'People from other places have a tent mentality,' he says. 'What bugs me is we're a first-world country, and these people don't have the understanding that when you come to a better country, you have to make yourself better. You can't just stand on the corner drinking beer and whistling at women. It's easy for them because they grew up in desolate countries.' The situation in central London encapsulates the complexity of legislating around homelessness. On Tuesday, the Government announced plans to decriminalise rough sleeping, continuing a Tory proposal from 2022 to repeal the 1824 Vagrancy Act. The Bill was originally brought in to deal with rising homelessness after the Napoleonic Wars and has long been considered out of date, with references to 'vagabonds' and 'rogues'. 'We are drawing a line under nearly two centuries of injustice towards some of the most vulnerable in society, who deserve dignity and support,' said Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister. 'No one should ever be criminalised simply for sleeping rough and, by scrapping this cruel and outdated law, we are making sure that can never happen again.' To ensure the police still have authority to combat antisocial behaviour, the Government promised to create new offences, including facilitating begging for gain and trespassing with the intention of committing a crime, both of which were previously included under the 1824 Act. Experts warn legislation against begging may yet rub up against the European Convention on Human Rights; in 2021, the court ruled that Switzerland had violated human rights when it fined a woman who had been begging. Homelessness is a global issue, of course, and there is a huge range of government responses to it. While Britain is moving to decriminalise rough sleeping, America has gone in the other direction. Last year, the US Supreme Court ruled that punishing rough sleepers was not a 'cruel and unusual punishment,', as prohibited by the Eighth Amendment. Homelessness has become a pressing problem in several American cities, most notoriously San Francisco. An estimated 771,000 Americans were homeless last year, more than any year on record. Since the ruling, at least 163 municipalities have passed rules banning camping. There are signs that policy is working. Last year, the California governor, Gavin Newsom, promised 'no more excuses' for the state with the highest 'unsheltered' rate in the country. Since encampments began to be cleared after the Supreme Court ruling, California's rate has stabilised. While, nationwide, homelessness increased by 18 per cent, in California it rose by just 3 per cent. In Fresno, California, members of the public can now report camps via an app. Rough sleepers could face fines of up to $1,000 or a year in prison, or they can ask to be taken to a shelter to discuss treatment or housing. When asked about whether the new rules were simply moving homeless people out of sight, Jerry Dyer, the city's Republican mayor and its former police chief, recently told The Economist: 'I'm sure there are people that have now chosen places that are less visible publicly, which is not a bad thing.' Some fear that the relaxing of rules in the UK will lead to the proliferation of rough sleeping seen in California prior to last year's Supreme Court ruling, in which Park Lane-style encampments spread across the country. 'San Francisco is the worst example but loads of these Left-wing-run cities in America have taken an approach of non-enforcement of laws around rough sleeping and petty crime,' says Fred de Fossard, the strategy director of the Prosperity Institute and a former Tory special adviser at the Cabinet Office, highlighting the absurdity of the UK taking such an approach when the United States is tacking in the opposite direction. 'Repealing the Vagrancy Act paves the way for [American levels of rough sleeping] here. This, in turn, will lead to a clamp-down in the future that will be 'more authoritarian than people are comfortable with and it will be entirely avoidable because we have taken a misguided, short-termist approach to these laws. This will fortify these encampments and make it harder for police to get rid of genuine criminals.' Certainly, those in charge of clearing encampments such as the one at Park Lane may wish police had similar powers to their US counterparts. The problem has been rumbling on for years. Last month, a court granted Transport for London (TfL), which owns the land, a possession order to remove the camp on Park Lane. A TfL spokesman said: 'We had to take enforcement action to regain possession of the site on two occasions last year; however, a number of people have returned with tents and other belongings.' David Spencer, the head of crime and justice at Policy Exchange, a think tank, and a former Met Police officer, says the situation at Park Lane encapsulates the difficulties facing those trying to disperse groups of rough sleepers, and the risks of removing their powers. 'Aggressive begging, rough sleeping and associated antisocial behaviour are things residents bring up all the time with the police,' he says. 'The reality is that they are issues which the police and local authorities are not able or willing to get to grips with. The police would never look at arrest and prosecution in the first instance, but what the Government is doing is removing the backstop, taking away almost any power the police has to deal with it. 'What we risk is a constant slide towards the degradation of our public realm, with government, police, authorities seeming to take a more permissive attitude to things like graffiti, begging, rough sleeping, fare dodging, which come up all the time with law-abiding people going about their lives,' he adds. 'People are sympathetic to those who find themselves in these situations, but we risk taking away the backstop that lets authorities do something about it. If we look at Park Lane, things have really got out of control. While some rough sleepers in central London beg, others manage to work, often in marginal gig-economy employment as delivery drivers or kitchen porters. Others choose to leave offered accommodation altogether. In June 2023, dozens of asylum seekers camped outside the accommodation they were offered in Pimlico, having balked at the prospect of sleeping four to a room. Signs by their camp read: 'This is a prison, not a hotel.' The Home Office stated that the accommodation was offered on a 'no-choice basis' and met 'all legal and contractual requirements.' In May 2024, Sadiq Khan pledged to end rough sleeping by 2030, and secured £17 million in central funding to do so. But if dealing with homeless people who want to find accommodation is difficult enough, what to do about those who – like the asylum seekers in Pimlico – prefer to sleep outside? Rough sleeping is only the most visible form of homelessness, which can also include living in temporary accommodation, sofa-surfing – sometimes called 'hidden homelessness' – and statutory homelessness, where a tenant has been served an eviction notice. The nature of rough sleeping can be difficult to quantify. According to the Ministry of Housing, which collates estimates from local authorities, there are around 2,000 rough sleepers in London, a figure that has more than doubled since the pandemic. Its data show that in that period, rough sleeping has risen across the country, in some areas by many multiples, including 1050 per cent in Charnwood, Leicestershire. Other sources put the figures much higher. According to the homelessness charity St Mungo's, there were 4,427 people recorded rough sleeping in London in the first quarter of 2025, an increase of 8 per cent on the same period last year. 'More people are becoming homeless and people are staying homeless for longer,' says Sean Palmer, the executive director of strategy and transformation at St Mungo's. 'It's getting more difficult to move people off of the streets, because there's not a supply of social housing, there's a block at the end of the system.' Rough sleeping has already been in effect decriminalised, with only five people sentenced for 'sleeping out' in England and Wales since 2017. Begging prosecutions have also fallen: the 160 sentences handed down for begging in 2024 was the lowest annual total on record, less than a fifth of the series high in 2018. But Palmer says the law can still have a deterrent effect on people seeking help: 'The Act as it is now isn't good for our clients, people suffering from homelessness and people rough sleeping. Sometimes it encourages them to hide more because they don't want to be criminalised and are less likely to receive the help and support they need to resolve their homelessness.' He says Mungo's clients come from a wide range of situations. 'It could be problems with the housing market, problems with money. A lot of people are bouncing around insecure accommodation and eventually they run out of goodwill and end up on the streets. Often our clients have backgrounds in the care system, sometimes in the military. Often people are leaving a government institution – they might be discharged from hospital, or be being moved on from the asylum system, or they might have left prison. 'I can't see how criminalising someone is helpful. We see the numbers of people coming out of the criminal justice system into homelessness. Feeding them back into the criminal justice system for being homeless, or feeding people who are homeless for other reasons back into the justice system, seems entirely counterproductive.' Proposed new offences target aggressive beggars and gangs, rather than individuals. The cautionary example of the US, however, shows what can happen when authorities have insufficient powers to disperse rough sleepers. The knottier issue at the heart of legislation is that many people don't think camping ought to be illegal and have great sympathy for those who find themselves homeless, even if they object to the sight of tent cities in some of London's most prestigious areas. The legal fudges reflect this Nimbyism. It also means that as a political issue, rough sleeping will not be moving along any time soon.
