Thame Drowning Inquest Hears Mother’s Evidence

THE mother of 11 year-old Nathan Matthews, who died after what was meant to be an end-of-term fun session at Thame’s Jubilee Pool, was among those who gave evidence to an inquest Jury into the cause of her son’s death today.
Postwoman, Mrs Penny Matthews, of Water End, Stockenchurch, spoke about how her son was a very active boy, who loved sport and was particularly passionate about bootball. The day of his death, July 12, 2004, she said, was the first time he had resumed swimming lessons for four weeks, because she had withdrawn him from school because of bullying at the bus stop.
“The school had been unwilling to do anything about it,” she said, “so we asked the police to deal with it and they had.”
In answer to questions about his health, Mrs Matthews said that, despite an incident about seven weeks before, when her son had spent the night in hospital for what was diagnosed as a viral illness, he was fit and healthy and that there was no family history of heart or cerebral problems.
She said that on the morning of his death he had not eaten breakfast, being keen to rush off to school and play football.
Mrs Matthews described how she arrived at the John Radcliffe Hospital where a nurse was still doing chest compressions but that Nathan died at 12.30 pm. But she said, she continued to talk to him because a nurse told her that hearing is the last sense to go.

Teacher, Mrs Carol Whitham, who described Nathan as “particularly energetic,” explained how she realised that there was a problem when she heard fellow teacher, Louisa Kippen, shout: “Someone is in trouble!” and noticed that it was Nathan and saw swimming teacher, Sara Allen, pull him out of the water.
Both she and Louisa Kippen described how Nathan seemed determined to win, moving his head vigourously from side-to-side and making a lot of splashing.
Mrs Whitham said she went very quickly to Nathan and spoke to him, urging him to wake up rubbing his back. She expressed to concern to the two pool-side attendants dealing with him that he was cold and that his lips were going blue. At which point someone appeared with a blanket.
Both teachers said that CPR was not begun on Nathan immediately because, they pressumed, he was still breathing. Louise Kippen said that she heard him moan a couple of times and later, that her impression of him at one point was that he seemed rather stiff.

Questions from the Solicitor acting for the Matthews family included references to what appeared to be glare on the pool surface in a series of photographs taken later in the afternoon on the day of Nathan’s death. None of the witnesses remembered noticing either refections or glare on the pool surface at the time of the incident.
Other questions centred around whether Nathan had been put in the ‘recovery position’. Mrs Whitham said that she thought not, and that both his arms were on the same side of this body as he lay on his side. Louise Kippin’s evidence concurred with this impression.

Learning Support Assistant, Natalie Hoare, spoke about how she noticed “a pair of black trunks” on the bottom of the pool after noticing someone running along the poolside, shortly before an alarm went off.

The Coroner had to adjourn the hearing because evidence and questions could not be heard due to a Christmas junket going on in the cafe adjacent to the Coroner’s court. Throughout the afternoon, it was very difficult for the public, the Press and the Jury to hear what was going on very easily, due to the poor sound system in the room.

The Inquest will continue tomorrow, and expected to last at least another seven days.

Photo: Penny and Paul Matthews, and one of Nathan’s sisters, who were in court today to hear the resumptioln of the Inquest into Nathan’s death.