Swimming pool treat ended in trgedy

Five-year-old Harjeet Kaur Rathor was on holiday with her family in the town and had been taken to the leisure centre as a treat before a planned trip to the cinema, an inquest heard.

Harjeet's father, shop assistant Narinder Singh Rathor, of Alwoodley, Leeds, said his wife's parents lived in Doncaster and he had taken his wife, Kalwant, and daughter to stay with them for a holiday last Friday.

He told the inquest his daughter was "a healthy and playful child".

Harjeet's grandmother, Nirmal Kaur Singh, went to The Dome with her granddaughter.

"I went to the viewing area with my daughter to get the younger children changed. Harjeet went and joined the boys and went in the paddling pool area.

"I saw the children playing in the paddling pool and after 10 or 15 minutes I suggested it was time to bring them out to get changed to go to the pictures."

Mrs Singh went to get some chips but while she was eating them she noticed Dome staff rushing about and saw an ambulance.

When she returned to The Lagoons she saw people leaving the pool still wet and was told there had been an accident.

She said: "I saw Harjeet laid out near the pool, not moving."

DC Neil Kent said police were pursuing enquiries but they already had a good idea of what had happened and there was no reason why Harjeet's body should not be released to her family.

Doncaster Coroner Stanley Hooper expressed his sympathy to the family and spoke to them after the inquest was adjourned to await "a thorough investigation".