Fatal rock leap instructor tried to help teenager

Laura McDairmant died after falling at Black Loch in 2006

A trainee instructor has told an inquiry how she helped to treat a girl fatally injured in a rock pool leap.

Lauren Densham, 23, was at Black Loch in Dumfries and Galloway, when Laura McDairmant, 15, from Carlisle, suffered injuries from which she later died.

She told Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court she saw the Cumbrian teenager lying face down on rocks and swam across the pool to try to help her.

The inquiry into Ms McDairmant's death in July 2006 continues.

Ms Densham said she had not seen the fatal jump but then heard one of the instructors shouting.

"I saw Laura lying face down on the rocks but she was not moving," she told the fatal accident inquiry.

"The other instructors were trying to get the children away.

"I looked around and I saw that everyone had gone."

'Lot of blood'

She said she had decided to go and help treat the injured girl.

"I went to assist and had to swim across the water to get to the rocks," said Ms Densham.

"She was unconscious and there was a lot of blood on the ground.

"She was breathing at that point and we started to use our first aid training which we had passed."

Ms Densham said the girl had a cut across her neck and under her chin and one of her shoulders had been badly broken.

The teenager was subsequently airlifted to Dumfries Infirmary but she died a day later from her injuries.