Runaway Boy Drowns in Boating Lake Horror

Runaway Boy Drowns in Boating Lake Horror

Written by Angela Gooch on August 4th, 2007 in Life in Skegness Past.

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Source: Skegness Standard 14th September 2001

A thirteen year old boy, who had run away from social workers, died on Monday after being dragged unconscious from Skegness boating lake.
Police outlined the strange chain of events leading to Cleethorpes schoolboy, Kane Jewitt’s death which has shocked local people and holidaymakers.
At about 3pm on Sunday a member of the public complained to the police about a group of youths apparently inhaling substances, thought to be lighter fuel, in the Richmond toilets, Kane was with them.
He was detained and appeared at Skegness court on Monday morning for breach of bail conditions imposed in Beverley.
The magistrates released him into the care of social services but he ran away from the court.
Kane was pulled from the lake by a friend at 3.30pm. Police were called and an ambulance crew, which arrived quickly, tried to revive him for 20 minutes before taking him to Skegness hospital. He was certified dead there.
Several witnesses have been interviewed by police as divers searched the lake for clues on Tuesday.
North East Lincolnshire’s deputy director of child care, Jane Martin, said two social workers were trying to persuade Kane to return to Grimsby for care accommodation to be arranged when he ran away. They had no power to restrain him.
“We are all very saddened,” said Mrs Martin, who added that Kane had a history of going missing from his home.
Holidaymakers, Derek and Pauline Wise, from the Wakefield area, said a man who had been standing on the bridge told them he saw the boy dancing around on the edge of the water, as if high on drugs, then suddenly jump[ in. “It’s shocking,” Derek said.
Coroner Stuart Fisher was due to open and adjourn an inquest this week. He has been waiting for the results of a post mortem, including tests on samples.