Manchester University lecturer drowned saving son from sea

Dr James Lincoln died on his 45th birthday while on holiday with his family

A university lecturer drowned while saving his son when he got into difficulty near a beach while on holiday, an inquest has concluded.

Dr James Lincoln died on his 45th birthday as he rescued the six-year-old from an estuary near Porthmadog, Gwynedd, on 5 August.

Coroner Dewi Pritchard Jones concluded accidental death from drowning.

Tributes described Dr Lincoln, from Manchester, as "a great person and a loving father".

The incident happened off Borth y Gest beach in Gwynedd

Dr Lincoln had been in the water with his 12-year-old daughter Amy and son, Sam, in the estuary of the River Glaslyn and River Dwyryd in north Wales.

Witnesses said he and his son got into trouble at about 15:30 BST and the boy clung on to his unconscious father as they were pulled from the sea.

His mother, Rosemary Segger was on the beach at the time and heard him shout "Sam", before disappearing behind an island in the estuary and being swept to a neighbouring bay.

James Spragg, who was also on the beach, said he had seen the boy holding onto what he thought was a type of surfboard, but after pulling them ashore, he realised it was the body of Dr Lincoln.

Onlookers, as well as lifeboat crews, coastguard, police and ambulance staff had tried to revive Dr Lincoln on the beach, before he was airlifted to hospital in Bangor where he died later that evening.

The area where the tragedy occurred was described at the inquest in Caernarfon as an area known by some as "danger rock" due to the fast flowing tide around it.

New warning signs have now been installed at Borth y Gest to raise awareness of the potentially dangerous conditions.

Dr Lincoln graduated from the University of Manchester in Physics in 1995, before returning as a lecturer in the economics department in 2016.