Drowned girl's death 'accidental'

Shannon Allcock had gone swimming with a friend

A coroner has recorded a verdict of accidental death on a 13-year-old girl from Nottingham who drowned in America.

Shannon Allcock got into difficulties in a lake in Texas on 4 July where she had been on a family visit to mark Independence Day weekend.

She had been swimming at Joe Pool Lake in Grand Prairie when she disappeared under the water.

The police and a dive team found the teenager after about 30 minutes of searching.

Her mother, Antoinette, fought a custody battle to have her body flown back to Nottingham.

She told Nottingham coroners court that she had agreed to let Shannon stay with her father (originally from Clifton in Nottingham) and his new wife for up to six months in November 2006.

Within weeks she was told Shannon would be staying and accused her former husband Gavin, of brainwashing their daughter to stay with him in the States.

After Shannon's death she struggled to get any information and had to prove to the US authorities she was her natural mother.

Recording the accidental death verdict the coroner, Dr Nigel Chapman, told Shannon's mother that to lose her to America and then have a custody battle to bring her body home compounded everything she had been through.

Antoinette Allcock said being able to bury her daughter in Nottingham was some consolation for losing her.

Advertisement

Shannon Allcock had been celebrating Independence Day with her American family