Staff 'gutted' by boy's cesspit death

The court heard that Nathan Pringle fell into four feet of effluent

Staff at a Cornish tourist park were "gutted" when a four-year-old holidaymaker died after plunging into a cesspit, a court heard on Friday.

"We so regret this has happened," director Alan Frear told the police investigating the death of four-year-old Nathan Pringle.

The boy died in hospital six days after his father Jeffrey pulled him from four feet of effluent into which he had fallen, Exeter Crown Court has heard.

It happened as his parents, from Bracknell, Berkshire, were packing at the end of their holiday at the Newperran Tourist Park, at Rejarrah, near Newquay on 10 August 2001.

We thought the covers were safe Alan Frear

The jury has been told that Trevella Caravan Company Ltd, which owned the Newperran site, had pleaded guilty to failing to discharge a duty, under the Health and Safety Act, to ensure the health and safety of visitors.

The manager of the holiday camp, 68-year-old Michael Kelly of Crantock, near Newquay, pleads not guilty to a charge of manslaughter by gross negligence.

Mr Kelly and Trevella director Alan Frear, 54, of Penwartha, Perranporth, also plead not guilty to charges which allege they were personally responsible for the company's failure because of neglect or connivance.

The jury has heard that Nathan and his seven-year-old brother Daniel had been standing on the ground-level metal covers of the cesspit, which were weighted with blocks, when one gave way.

They had come across the cesspit while taking pet dog Holly for a walk in a field which their parents had been told was designated for exercising pets.

Mr Frear told the police that the field was owned by the company, but was not part of the tourist park.

Asked whether it was used for any purpose by campers, he told the police: "Not at all."

When police asked him if the field had been used as a dog walking area, he told them: "Not to my knowledge. It used to have livestock in it until recently."

He said people may have used the field as a dog walking area, but added: "It is not one we would recommend."

Risk assessment

There was a gate and a barbed wire fence to keep people out of the field, he said.

Mr Frear said the septic tanks had never been mentioned to them in visits by Health and Safety inspectors.

"People should not have been anywhere in the field," he told police.

"We thought the covers were safe.

"In the event that someone did get into the field we felt the covers were adequate."

Mr Frear said he had come to that conclusion when carrying out a risk assessment at the site earlier in the season.

The case was adjourned until Monday