Inquest hears Timothy Osborne drowned off Long Island

A businessman drowned while swimming off a beach in the US known for its riptides but lifeguards had finished for the season

A businessman may not have died in the US if lifeguards had been on duty, an inquest in Ipswich has heard.

Timothy Allen Osborne, 46, who grew up in Essex, drowned off Long Island near New York City on 16 September.

The father of two, who was managing director of Singapore-based Moodys Corporation of New York, was caught by a riptide.

This danger was well-known to local people, but lifeguards were not always on duty, the inquest in the UK heard.

The lifeguards had saved a lot of people from riptides, but were only on duty on the beach at Southampton from Memorial Day on 28 May to Labour Day on 3 September.

At the inquest the assistant coroner Dr Dan Sharpstone said in his narrative conclusion "if lifeguards had been there, they may have made the difference".

Avoidable death

In a statement, the businessman's father Jeremy Osborne, who lives near Hadleigh in Suffolk, said: "The family does feel strongly that this was an avoidable death."

He said there had been two deaths earlier that week in September and the mayor could have banned swimming or lifeguards could have been kept on duty for more of the year as lots of people were using the beach.

"If, at the very least, a notice had been put up banning swimming, our family might not now be mourning the loss of a much-loved husband, father, son, brother and uncle who had so much to live for and so much more to give," Mr Osborne said in his statement.

Mr Osborne was educated at Great Easton Primary in Dunmow and Newport Free Grammar School in Essex.