A five-year-old boy drowned on a family holiday in Greece after wandering to the hotel pool alone before breakfast – because their room had no chain lock, an inquest heard.
Little Theo Treharne-Jones was found unconscious in the swimming pool of a resort on the island of Kos in June 2019.
Wales News ServiceLittle Theo Treharne-Jones, five, was discovered in the swimming pool in Kos in a “tragic accident” on a sunshine holiday with his family[/caption]
Wales News ServiceHe was wandering to the hotel pool alone before breakfast – because their room had no chain lock, an inquest heard.[/caption]
The tragic youngster was described as an “excitable, happy, loving little child” as his devastated family gave evidence.
Theo had “no sense of danger” when he slipped out of his room to make his way to the pool on his own that morning.
His mum, Nina Treharne, revealed there was no chain lock on the door of their hotel room and questioned whether there should have been tighter security measures in place.
The family, from Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, had previously stayed at the Atlantica Holiday Village nine months earlier.
After loving their first stay, they decided to return for as a group of ten for another break in the sunshine.
But when they arrived, they were given different rooms to the ones they had on their previous TUI package holiday.
Ms Treharne told the inquest in Pontypridd, South Wales: “The door had no chain lock in this room. We had placed her two sons’ buggy and a suitcase against the door as a precaution.”
The family went to bed after dinner as usual – unaware of the nightmare that would unfold at dawn.
Ms Treharne recalled: “We were fast asleep. There was banging and someone was shouting: ‘There’s a child in the pool, there’s a child in the pool’.
“It was like waking up to a nightmare.”
Theo had been diagnosed with Smith-Magenis Syndrome and had displayed “autistic behaviours”, his mother explained.
She said this may have made him less naturally cautious – and meant he was able to leave the hotel room unaccompanied.
Theo’s dad, Richard Jones, described his son as a “beautiful child” with an “infectious laugh and smile”.
When the alarm was raised, he rushed downstairs.
He told the hearing he ran to the pool area “expecting to find Theo sitting at the side of the pool”.
But what he saw left him stunned.
He was “shocked” to see someone performing CPR on his son on a nearby sunlounger.
Fellow holidaymaker Stuart Zammitto-Nicholl had spotted Theo floating face down in the water.
He said: “I scooped him out of the water and laid him down to start doing CPR,” he said.
“I was doing CPR for five minutes, but it felt like forever.”
Another guest, Owen Samson, gave evidence via videolink from Exeter.
He told the inquest he was getting ready to attend a wedding when he saw Theo near the pool.
The little boy was pushing his buggy around, moving it “in a figure-of-eight” and “laughing his head off”.
Mr Samson said Theo had “no sense of the impending tragedy” that was about to unfold.
Coroner Gavin Knox said the inquest would examine exactly how Theo managed to leave his family’s hotel room and reach the pool area on his own.
He said it would look closely at the safety and supervision of the pool, and the information provided to guests.
The coroner also wants to investigate the suitability of the door-locking mechanisms in the hotel bedrooms.
He will look at what information guests received about how the locks worked – and whether there were opportunities to request extra security measures like door-chains.
Mr Knox said he would be able to summon TUI employees to the hearing, but that his jurisdiction over Greek nationals or residents would be limited.
The inquest, expected to last three days, continues.
WNSTheo with Dad Richard and his younger brother[/caption]