Father of tragic Kyra tells of despair at water park’s partial reopening

Kyra Hill, 11, was attending a birthday party at Liquid Leisure near Windsor, Berkshire, when she got into trouble in a designated swimming area.

Kyra Hill who drowned at Liquid Leisure water park in August (Family handout/PA) (PA Media)

The father of a girl who drowned at a water park has spoken of his despair that it has been allowed to partially reopen, likening footage of the tragedy to a “horror movie”.

Kyra Hill, 11, was attending a birthday party at Liquid Leisure near Windsor, Berkshire, on August 6 when she got into trouble in a designated swimming area.

Emergency services were called at 3.55pm and Kyra was found just after 5.10pm and rushed to Wexham Park Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

The water park had been closed but has now been given the green light to partially reopen for water skiing and wakeboarding.

In an interview with the PA news agency, Kyra’s father Leonard Hill, 36, was deeply distressed at the move to allow members of the public to return while Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead council is still investigating.

The nightshift manager said: “I’ve been told that Liquid Leisure have been granted the right to reopen and operate again. The investigation has not been completed.

“When I heard that news it just broke my heart all over again and it’s just dragged me back down to ground level – floor below ground level.”

The father-of-three from Croydon, south London, described the additional heartbreak of viewing CCTV of the incident.

“I’ve replayed the CCTV in my mind every day, every night. It’s like watching a horror movie. I replay my child on a hospital bed every day, every night. I replay my child in the morgue and touching her cold freezing stiff body with fluids leaking from her nose every day and every night.”

A spokesperson for the council said: “Following risk management work by Liquid Leisure, the council has served a revised prohibition notice still preventing all water-based activities at Liquid Leisure apart from boating activities, primarily those associated with water-skiing and wakeboarding and tow cabling for water-skiing and wakeboarding.

“The notice continues to prohibit the use of the venue’s beach area.

“The revised notice will remain in place until such time as Liquid Leisure has satisfied the council they have suitable and sufficient risk assessments to prevent or reduce the risk of drowning.

“We are in the process of conducting a health and safety investigation into the tragic incident at Liquid Leisure to determine any potential breaches under relevant health and safety legislation.

“This is a comprehensive and complex investigation which the council is working to complete as soon as practically possible.

“We would again like to express our deepest condolences to Kyra’s family, who have been kept updated with progress.

“Separate to this, an appeal against the council’s enforcement notice, where we considered that a material change of use had occurred without planning permission, has been withdrawn by Liquid Leisure.

“The enforcement notice is now in effect with Liquid Leisure required to comply in full with the requirements of the notice by the specified compliance period.”

Harvinder Kaur from Fieldfisher, the law firm representing the family, said: “Leonard and his whole family are going through agony knowing Liquid Leisure has partially reopened without there being a complete picture of what happened to Kyra and how her death could have been prevented.

“We will support him leading up to the inquest to ensure more information becomes available to offer him a modicum of relief from his pain.”

PA has contacted Liquid Leisure for comment.