Holiday firms ordered to protect kids after Brit boy, 5, drowns in Greece
Theo Treharne-Jones, five, from Merthyr Tydfil, wandered off from his hotel room, which had no lock, during a family holiday in Kos, Greece, and he tragically drowned in a swimming pool
A five-year-old boy tragically drowned in a hotel swimming pool abroad and now holiday firms being asked to do more to protect children by a coroner.
Theo Treharne-Jones died after his hotel room had no chain lock and he wandered to the pool alone before breakfast at the resort in Greece. A coroner ruled it was an accidental death - but is sending a report to holiday company TUI along with other operators in a bid to prevent further tragedies.
The youngster was described as an "excitable, happy, loving little child" when his family took him on the sunshine break to the island of Kos. The inquest heard he had "no sense of danger" when he left his room to make his way to the pool.
Theo was found unconscious in the swimming pool at the Atlantica Holiday Village in Kos in June 2019. His mother Nina Treharne revealed there was no door-chain and queried whether there should have been more security at the pool.
The family from Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, had stayed at the same hotel nine months earlier and decided to return with Theo in a family group of 10 after enjoying their break. But Ms Treharne said the rooms were different to the ones they had stayed in previously on the TUI holiday package.
She said: "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." Ms Treharne told the inquest in Pontypridd, South Wales, how how the family had gone to bed after dinner - only to be woken by shouting the following morning.
She said: "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."
The inquest heard that Theo had been diagnosed with Smith-Magenis Syndrome and had displayed "autistic behaviours". Ms Treharne said that made him less naturally cautious - and was able to leave the hotel room unaccompanied.
Theo's father, Richard Jones, told the hearing his son was a "beautiful child" with an infectious laugh and smile. When the alarm was raised, he said he ran down to the pool area "expecting to find Theo sitting at the side of the pool". But he was "shocked" to see someone doing CPR on his son on a nearby sunlounger.
Fellow holidaymaker Stuart Zammitto-Nicholl found Theo 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 hotel guest, Owen Samson, gave evidence via videolink from Exeter.
He said he was preparing to attend a wedding when he saw Theo pushing his buggy near the pool. He was moving the buggy "in a figure -of-eight" movement and "laughing his head off", Mr Samson said, adding he had no sense of the impending tragedy.
Coroner Gavin Knox recorded a conclusion of accidental death. He will send a "prevention of death" report to holiday companies with a series of recommendations to improve safety.