The death of a five-year-old British boy who fell into a swimming pool while on an Algarve family holiday was accidental, according to an Eastbourne coroner.
"Asphyxia as a result of drowning" was recorded by a Portuguese pathologist after Rupert Marshall, from Uckfield, East Sussex was found in the shallow end of the pool while on holiday with his two older sisters, their father and Joanna Gardner, his partner.
The family were staying with Joanna Gardener's mother, long term Algarve resident Pat Gardener, at her house on the outskirts of Armaçao de Pêra, Silves.
Despite Joanna Gardener’s initial efforts to revive Rupert, and the expert attention of the emergency services, the boy died at the scene on August 21, 2013.
An inquest at Eastbourne Magistrates' Court heard that the adults had made it clear, and trusted the children not to venture into the pool without an adult present.
Joanna Gardner and Rupert's father, Adrian Marshall, were using the computer to look at an online map in the study as Rupert drowned.
Joanna said to the court that she remembered thinking that she had better go outside, she just felt it was time to move outside.
"I went down to the pool and I saw Rupert at the shallow end. He was lying face down in the water. He was wearing a towel and leggings.
"I ran in, pulled him out, and started breathing into him. I yelled."
Joanna told the court that she recently had completed a swimming teacher's course
Mr Marshall said that of the three children Rupert was least interested in swimming and usually had to be coaxed into the pool, adding that it was a mystery as to why Rupert had gone into the water.
Rupert's mother, Sophie Marshall, told the hearing that her son was extremely long-sighted and that she had worried about the proximity of the pool. There was speculation that he may have been looking for a stray cat that had been hanging around the property.
Alan Craze, the East Sussex coroner, recorded a verdict of accidental death, adding that he had sympathy for everyone involved in the tragedy. Craze said that he did not know what was worse; for the people who were there when the accident happened or for his mother Sophie who was not.
"Nobody is going to forget this, nobody pretends they are ever going to forget this," Mr Craze said in his closing comments.
"But my hope is that with the benefit of the passage of time, each parent will be able to move on."
