UK NEWS

BOY DROWNS IN PC’S SWIMPOOL

TRAGEDY: Pool

Thursday August 23,2007

By Liz Hazelton

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A TODDLER has drowned in a swimming pool at the £500,000 home of a police officer.

The three-year-old boy, believed to be the officer’s nephew, was pulled from the water by his family.

Neighbours of of PC Craig Dalby reported hearing a single scream from the garden.

Soon after an air ambulance arrived. The child was flown to Swindon’s Great Western Hospital in a critical condition but was pronounced dead by medics.

Yesterday, Wiltshire Police confirmed they were treating Tuesday’s death as an accident and had passed the matter on to the coroner.

Seven police officers were guarding their colleague’s house, a large four-bedroomed redbrick property called Elm Cottage, in Bromham, near Chippenham.

The covered 40ft pool is just yards from the house.

Father-of-two PC Dalby, 40, and his wife Serena, 40, moved into the £525,000 home in November.

The training and development officer was already well-known in the area and raised £7,000 for in a charity bike ride in 2003.

Yesterday, some of Bromham’s 1,800 residents described their grief. Terry Sanders, 71, said: “The whole village is devastated. All our thoughts are with the family.

The pool is quite large and has been there for 20 years with a canopy over the top so it can be used in winter. For something like this to happen is a real tragedy.”

Priscilla Paget, who has lived in the village for more than 45 years, added: “We’ve never had anything like this happen before – it’s horrible.

Obviously, everyone’s thoughts are going to be with the child’s family at such a difficult time.”

Another resident, who did not want to be named, said: “I was in the garden at around 2.30pm when I heard a sound like a child’s scream. I went to have a look but couldn’t see anything. Minutes later the helicopter landed.”

The child’s family, from Buckinghamshire, are being supported by specialist police liaison officers and an inquest will open in the next few days.

A post mortem will also be carried out.