Trust fined after disabled man almost drowns

Health and safety breaches admitted

- KEVIN DYSON

A leisure trust has been fined after admitting health and safety breaches that saw a disabled swimmer nearly drown at the Galleon Leisure Centre in Kilmarnock.

The board of Kilmarnock Leisure Centre Trust, including five councillors and a local businessman, was represented at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court where Sheriff Ian Duguid issued a fine of £11,825.

Ryan Deans, 25, was submerged for almost two minutes before an alarm was raised at the Galleon Leisure Centre pool in January 2023.

Kilmarnock Sheriff Court heard that Mr Deans, who has learning difficulties, was part of the Kilmarnock Jets swimming club when he got into difficulty.

He was under the water for one minute and 52 seconds before club volunteers realised.

He was found face down in the middle of the small pool, which was round 80 cm deep, before being rescued by volunteers.

Mr Deans was still breathing and the volunteers called on the lifeguard to help. An ambulance was called and he was taken to Crosshouse Hospital where it was discovered he had a seizure underwater.

The court was told that Mr Deans’ mother said he had suffered psychologically but it was hard to assess the impact as he is non-verbal.

He had not returned to the club he had been a member of for 15 years.

Trustees, including five East Ayrshire Councillors, Iain Linton, Clare Maitland, Barry Douglas, James Adams and Claire Leitch, along with businessman Manpreet Bawa, were named as representatives of Kilmarnock Leisure Centre Trust, which operated the pool at the time.

The trustees were named as representatives of the trust as a body, but have no personal liability.