Overview
- Area coroner Darren Stewart on Friday recorded an accidental drowning and said faster contact with Suffolk Fire and Rescue could have made survival possible.
- The inquest set out a timeline from a 7:52pm 999 call to first fire contact at 8:04pm, arrival at 8:22pm, a 30‑second extrication at 8:29pm, and a death declared at 8:44pm.
- The coroner called the 999 advice not to move her “extraordinary” after the call was wrongly treated as an entrapment, and he will issue a Prevention of Future Deaths report to the ambulance trust and NHS England.
- Expert evidence said national drowning guidance starts a 30‑minute rescue clock when the first responder confirms submersion and put the probable survival window near five minutes, which witnesses said was not followed.
- The family said the outcome brings some closure, with her partner hoping changes now prevent another death.