Appeals over convictions for girl's death in France

Twelve-year-old Jessica Lawson was swimming in a lake during a school trip in France when a pontoon overturned and she drowned

A French lifeguard and local authority convicted over the death of a British schoolgirl, who drowned on a trip to France nine years ago, have lodged appeals.

Jessica Lawson, 12, who attended Wolfreton School near Hull, had been swimming in a lake near Limoges in July 2015 when a pontoon overturned.

Teachers Chantelle Lewis, Daisy Stathers and Steven Layne were cleared of the equivalent of manslaughter by gross negligence for a second time by a court of appeal judge in France on 17 July.

However, a lifeguard on duty, Leo Lemaire, was given an eight-month suspended jail term, while the commune of Liginiac was fined €20,000 (about £17,000), after they were found guilty of the same charge.

The Court of Appeal of Limoges also ordered Liginiac and Mr Lemaire to jointly pay €214,000 (about £180,000) in damages to the Lawson family.

On Thursday, the French Ministry of Justice said in a statement: "Both the commune of Liginiac and Leo Lemaire have filed an appeal against the judgement of the Court of Appeal of Limoges."

Clockwise, from top left: Teachers Steven Layne, Chantelle Lewis and Daisy Stathers, and lifeguard Leo Lemaire, outside a court in Tulle in 2022

Following the verdict last month, the Lawson family's lawyer, Eloi Chan, said: "It's been a gruelling process for them [the family].

"They've been waiting for a judicial response for about 10 years now and there is a lot of emotion. They have to process this."

Mr Chan said it was a complex case, which had been "harshly fought" by the French authorities and the British teachers.

Two years ago, the three teachers, Mr Lemaire and the local authority were found not guilty of the charge.

However, Mr Chan said the public prosecutor "felt that there were enough elements in the criminal file" to appeal the original acquittal and warrant a retrial.

Jessica Lawson with her parents Brenda and Tony

The original hearing in October 2022 was told 24 children, aged 12 to 17, had been swimming in the lake when the pontoon overturned.

Jessica was found beneath the pontoon and died in hospital.

The three teachers had been accused of failing to comply with risk-evaluation regulations.

However, Marie-Sophie Waguette, head of jurisdiction at the Palais de Justice in Tulle, said the court believed they "were not under obligation to carry out any specific checks" and there was "no evidence to show that they were negligent".

Both the French authority and school have been approached for a comment.

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