Mother of teen who drowned fears further tragedies

The mother of a teenage boy who drowned while swimming in a private lake at an old quarry has told his inquest she fears it will happen to someone else.

The body of Dishone Lloyd, 16, from Harlow, Essex, was found the day after he was reported missing at Burnside Lakes, in Cherry Hinton, Cambridge, on 12 August last year.

His mother, Ketema Davis, told the inquest in Huntingdon she believed "this lake needs draining as it's going to happen again".

Elizabeth Gray, area coroner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, recorded a verdict of accidental death.

Dishone was one of about 30 young people who went to the quarry on what was the hottest day of the year, the inquest heard.

Ms Davis told the hearing via video link: "Dishone decided to enter the site so I don't want to blame anybody else for his death."

But she said that "he's not the first, second or third person to drown in that lake".

"If [the police] had taken this seriously, maybe his death would have been prevented," she continued.

"I seriously think this lake needs draining as it's going to happen again."

Det Insp Susie Hine said in a statement read by the coroner that the private site was leased by a fishing club and was fenced off with "clear signage stating it is dangerous".

A statement made by a friend revealed the group ignored a warning from a security officer to leave the site.

Initially, Dishone had decided not to swim out to a platform but changed his mind for "reasons we don't know", the coroner said.

He had swum about halfway across the lake when he started to panic.

Members of the group saw him go under the water and they called an ambulance.

Security officer Mohb Sohrab, who was patrolling the site, said he made a 999 call to police at 14:56 BST, when the group was trespassing but before the teenager had got into difficulty.

He was advised to dial 101 as it was not an emergency, which he did immediately, but the inquest heard he hung up after spending 14 minutes on hold.

Cambridgeshire Police said it was called by the ambulance service at 17:26 BST.

Ms Gray noted there was "significant security fencing around the site" and security patrols, and she said the security officer "took the right approach to call the police".

Recording the verdict of accidental death, Ms Gray said the teenager had drowned. She added that there "had been a suggestion he had a heart issue over the last year [but] this was checked and nothing was detected".

The coroner said it was a "terrible tragedy".

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