Inquiry into canoeing tragedy considers criminal charges: Teenagers gave unconscious friends kiss of life as they drifted out to sea after boats capsized

POLICE investigating the canoeing tragedy off Lyme Regis, Dorset, which claimed the lives of four school pupils, are examining whether there are any grounds for criminal proceedings.

Five of the seven survivors of the party, which was swept out to sea on Monday and not rescued for more than four hours, were released from Weymouth General hospital yesterday. Two others who were detained were making steady progress.

It emerged yesterday that two of the teenage girls in the party from Southway School, Plymouth, tried to give the kiss of life to unconscious friends as they struggled to survive in the sea after their canoes capsized.

Tony Pointer, Deputy Chief Constable of Dorset, said that the police inquiry would both prepare a report for the coroner and 'consider the many individual areas of responsibility within the case and decide, in conjunction with the Crown Prosecution Service, whether there are any specific grounds for criminal proceedings'.

However, legal experts said that it would be extremely difficult for manslaughter charges to be brought. If there is a prosecution it is more likely to be under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

George Goodwin, principal lecturer at the College of Law, Guildford, said: 'Manslaughter tends to arise in one of two ways. The first, which obviously does not apply here, is where there is a deliberate assault with no intention of killing which results in a death. The other, which is rare, is manslaughter by recklessness. This is where there is an obvious risk of serious harm but the defendant failed to consider that obvious risk.'

While it is unlikely that there was such a high degree of recklessness in this case, either the education authority or the owners of the adventure training centre where the group was on a course could be prosecuted under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

Section 3 of the Act says that every employer should ensure that people not working for them but who may be affected by the way they conduct their business are not exposed to risks to their health or safety.

This would cover the school pupils who were accompanied on the canoe trip by a teacher employed by Devon County Council and two instructors working for Active Learning and Leisure, owners of the St Albans Adventure Training Centre, where they were spending a week.

Because of the investigation, police yesterday released few new details of how the party got into difficulties although it believed that they were blown offshore by the wind. Devon County Council also launched an inquiry yesterday to see whether its safety guidelines had been broken.

The two instructors, Anthony Mann, 23, and Karen Gardner, 21, were well enough to leave hospital and slipped away quietly. Two pupils, Marie Rendle, 17 and Joanna Willis, 16, were also allowed home.

The teacher, Norman Pointer, 49, was also allowed to leave after further interviews with police. Two other pupils who survived were detained but Emma Hartley, 16, was well enough to leave intensive care early yesterday and join Samantha Stansby, 17, in the trauma ward.

An inquest into the deaths of Simon Dunne, Rachel Walker, and Claire Langley, all 16, and Dean Sawyer, 17, was opened and adjourned yesterday.

(Photograph omitted)