Pool body 'left for 15 minutes'

Emma Farrar died during a weekly swimming lesson

The body of a special needs child was not found until 15 minutes after the end of the swimming lesson in which she drowned, Preston Crown Court has heard.

Emma Farrar, from Nuttall Road, Blackpool, had been at the lesson with her classmates at Woodlands School in Blackpool on 13 November 2001.

She was a pupil at the neighbouring Park School which used the pool.

Woodlands School teacher Pauline Mills, 55, of Newton, near Kirkham, Lancashire, denies manslaughter.

Emma had moderate to severe learning disabilities and little sense of danger or caution, the court heard.

No armbands

Her mother Samantha said her daughter had been "a very happy child".

She drowned during a five minute playtime without armbands near the end of a swimming lesson, the jury was told.

Ms Mills had been accompanied by three other women who had no special training, or life-saving qualifications, the court heard.

As the children left the pool there was no head count, and no member of staff returned to see if anyone was still in the water.

Keith Berry, who was the head teacher at Park School at the time of Emma's death, is also on trial.

He denies offences under health and safety legislation.

On Thursday members of the jury will be taken to Blackpool to see for themselves the swimming pool where Emma drowned.

The trial is expected to last for four weeks.