Teacher rejects blame for drowning

A teacher broke down in the witness box yesterday when he recalled the moment he was told that a pupil in his care had drowned during a school holiday in France.

Mark Duckworth was giving evidence at the inquest of Gemma Carter, who died aged 13 during a supervised paddling session off the coast of northern France in June 1999.

The girl from Leeds, who was with nine other children on a visit to the beach on the second night of their stay in Le Touquet, was last seen splashing in the water. She was found dead a few hours later.

Mr Duckworth, 47, a French teacher and group leader who had planned the paddling trip, denied claims that he had not taken action after being told by Jennifer Clagett, a pupil, that Gemma was in trouble. "If I had thought for one moment somebody was in the water, I would have gone straight in to get them," he told a jury at Leeds coroner's court.

Mr Duckworth said he had called back some of the pupils from Cockburn High School in Leeds as they began to stray, telling them to paddle rather than swim out to see.

But Gemma's absence was suddenly noticed as the children returned. "The first thing I did was look to the water to see if she was there. I could see nothing so I assumed Gemma had got out of the water and gone back to the hotel to get dry," said Mr Duckworth, who has life-saving qualifications.

A search of the hotel and beach ensued and the teacher called the emergency services. "They told me somebody would come, but nobody did," he said. He wept as he described the moment news of Gemma's death was relayed to him. "I was always hopeful until the fireman told me Gemma had drowned," he said.

Colin Richardson, the headteacher, denied receiving a letter from Gemma's mother before the trip telling him her daughter could not swim. The inquest continues.