Whitehaven swimming teacher Gavin Bound 'lost control' and submerged child with special educational needs

Gavin Bound, 39, of Griffin Close, Frizington, had pleaded not guilty to a charge of assault by beating at a hearing in May but was found guilty following a trial at Workington Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

Lee Dacre, prosecuting, said Bound had been taking a swimming lesson at Mayfield School in Whitehaven earlier this year.

There were a number of members of staff present in the pool because of the children’s needs.

Mr Dacre said there was a boy who did not have a member of staff with him and Bound had taken responsibility for him.

At some point there was a change in the boy’s behaviour and he began lashing out at Bound, the court was told.

Mr Dacre said the defendant warned the boy not to hit him and the defendant then deliberately submerged the boy under the water.

Mr Dacre said: “It was a loss of control from the defendant with some provocation from the child but a wholly inappropriate response. The crown say it was deliberate retaliation.”

He said Bound had then moved the child from the pool and 'chastised' him verbally that he shouldn’t be hitting people.

Bound’s police statement was read to the court in which he said he had lost his balance due to the depth and extension of his arms.

The court heard from a number of teaching staff from Mayfield School who were present at the time of the offence.

Sara Perez Lucena, a teaching assistant who was in the pool, said she saw the boy hit Bound, making contact with him twice around his head.

She said after the first hit, Bound said “you don’t hit in the pool”. She said Bound had dunked the boy under the water.

Ms Lucena said she 'reacted instinctively' and called Bound’s name. She said the boy was crying and sobbing. 

She said Bound sat the boy on the side of the pool and kept telling him, “you don’t hit in the pool”.

When asked by Mr Dacre if it looked like Bound had slipped, Ms Lucena replied: “It looked like he had deliberately done it. He looked upset because he had hit him.”

Ms Lucena said she had then told her class teacher Sarah Sim.

The court also heard from teaching assistant Amanda Gower, who said that Bound was about chest height in the water when the incident took place.

Ms Gower said the boy seemed upset and had smacked Bound in the chest twice. She said Bound had responded, “no hitting”.

She said Bound had hold of the boy, with his hands under his arms and had pushed him under the water.

Ms Gower said: “His head was under for a couple of seconds. He was coughing and spluttering and crying.”

She said Bound had an angry look on his face and did not look calm.

Leanne Bromley, who has worked as a teaching assistant at the school since 2008, was in the deep end of the pool. She said she heard a commotion and turned to see what was going on.

Ms Bromley said she saw the boy submerged under the water up to his head. She said Bound was standing holding the boy under the arms.

Mr Dacre asked if it looked like Bound was off balance or struggling, to which Ms Bromley replied, “no”. She said it looked deliberate.

Ms Bromley said Bound seemed 'overly nice' and 'friendly' for the rest of the lesson.

She said she later went to report the incident to the assistant head teacher, Carolyn Westnedge, who asked staff to write statements about what they saw.

Anthony Parkinson, defending, put to Ms Bromley: “You will know better than anyone working with children with difficulties can be very challenging. Children will sometimes misbehave. They will be violent, strike out at teachers.

“Over the course of 14 years you have known Mr Bound, he has always behaved impeccably towards the children, hasn’t he?”

“Yes,” Ms Bromley replied.

Mr Parkinson also questioned why Ms Bromley had gone to report the incident “of her own accord” and noted there had been no joint discussion with the other staff members.

Ms Bromley said: “I just felt it wasn’t something that should be left until the end of the day. I felt it wasn’t something that could be left when he was going out to the public to be with other children.”

Sarah Sim, class teacher, also gave evidence. She said she saw the boy sat on the pool side with Bound in front of him in the water.

Ms Sim said the boy was crying and had his bottom lip out.

She said she had turned to Ms Bromley who was next to her and asked what had happened. Ms Bromley had told her that the boy had been dunked under the water by Bound.

Ms Sim said she had then spoken to Bound, and said, “We don’t do that. What’s gone on?”

She said Bound replied, “Well he hit me first.”

Ms Sim said it was “obvious” that Bound knew what he had done.

Mr Parkinson asked Ms Sim if the decision to take the matter further was by Leanne Bromley.

Ms Sim said it was but she would have made the same decision.

Mr Parkinson said: “When you gave your evidence about what happened in the aftermath, were you approaching it from a one-sided point of view?”

Ms Sim replied: “Initially, but his reaction confirmed it a little bit. It was very clear what happened was because of the hit.

“The body language was suggesting something had happened.”

The court also heard from teaching assistant Deborah Mundy, who was watching from the pool side.

Ms Mundy said she saw the boy hit Bound to the face. She said the boy was pulled under the water and his head was submerged.

When asked by Mr Dacre if it looked like Bound had slipped, she said: “No. It definitely looked like punishment for hitting him. I was quite shocked.”

Giving evidence, Bound said he had been working as a swimming instructor since 1999 and had started working for Mayfield School in 2004. He also has his own swim school, Aqua Splash.

Bound said he had worked with a number of children with autism, Down’s Syndrome and other special educational needs.

He told the court: “It’s a challenging job but very rewarding. It’s an SEN school. It takes a special member of staff to work there.

“I have been punched in the face before and dragged under the water on many occasions. It’s part and parcel of the role that you do.”

Bound said he was a 'stickler' for having things set up correctly. That day the class had been running late and there was an issue with armbands.

He said four members of staff had “had a go at him” before the lesson had started.

“I thought it was a bit unnecessary to have a go at me about armbands,” Bound told the court. “They didn’t speak to me during the lesson.”

Bound said in the past, the boy often got out the water and “wanted to do what he wanted to do”. He said there was “no kind of control”.

The defendant said pupils were swimming in a line across the pool. Bound was attempting to keep the boy on task.

Bound said: “He didn’t actually hit me. I did a lot of verbal interaction. For some reason he started to thrash towards my face. He didn’t hit my face.”

He said he was asking the boy to stop thrashing about and was encouraging him to get across the pool.

“For whatever reason, he was just going in that motion towards my face. I was putting my arms out. I just lost my balance. It was a split second.

“It was literally just like the water splashing up round him. It was the blink of an eye.”

Bound said he had put the boy back on the pool side for “a bit of breathing space”.

Mr Parkinson asked the defendant if at any point, he had submerged the boy under the water. Bound replied, “no”.

Bound said the following morning he was approached by the head teacher and assistant head teacher and was asked to leave.

He said: “I was a bit shocked. It felt like my soul had left my body.”

The defendant said he was told that there had been an allegation made against him and he was suspended and asked to leave the site.

During cross examination, Mr Dacre put to Bound that he “likes to run a tight ship” and likes people to be on time.

He said: “That was an annoyance, it [the lesson] wasn’t on time. You said the teachers were moody towards you. By raising that, it was an issue.

“You were annoyed that nobody had the courtesy to tell you. Four members of staff were having a go at you. You are not in a good mood at the start of this lesson.”

Bound said: “I’m there for the children. As long as they are safe. That’s my paramount concern.”

Mr Dacre said: “It’s accepted that he lashed out at you. He wasn’t doing what you wanted him to do. You wanted him to go across the pool in a line.”

Bound replied: “It’s what we had set as a task to do.”

Mr Dacre put to Bound that he had lost his temper and submerged the boy.

“I haven’t lost my temper,” he replied. “I went over and said you shouldn’t be lashing out.”

Mr Dacre said: “You have got a lot to lose here in terms of telling people the truth about what happened. Possibly losing your business and your job at Mayfield.”

Summing up, Mr Parkinson said the defendant had vast amounts of experience working in a role as a swimming instructor with children who have special educational needs.

He said: “Why would he put all that at risk in the presence of other people for what the prosecution suggest is a moment of madness?”

Passing sentence, District Judge John Temperley said he accepted the evidence of the prosecution witnesses.

He said Bound had “lost control momentarily” and “deliberately pulled” the boy under the water.

Mr Temperley said it was “totally out of character” but there was no lawful reason for doing so.

Bound was given a 12-month community order with 160 hours of unpaid work.

He was ordered to pay £620 in costs, a £95 victim surcharge and £200 in compensation to his victim.