Hotel Manager 'Attempted CPR' On Drowned Fife Pensioner

A court has heard how a hotel manager pulled the lifeless body of a Fife pensioner from a swimming pool in Dundee.

Michael McDonald died after he was found at the bottom of the pool at Livingwell Health Club, part of the now demolished Hilton Hotel in Dundee's Earl Grey Place. Fellow member William Tanner spotted the 73-year-old lying motionless in the water in November 2011 and summoned club manager Jennifer Newcombe, who ran to his aid.
 
The 37-year-old told a fatal accident inquiry into Mr McDonald's death that he was a regular at the club who she had seen "five days a week for seven years".
 
On the day of the accident, Mrs Newcombe said Mr McDonald briefly went to the gym, which he hadn't done for some time, before entering the pool. She told depute fiscal Gavin Callaghan she became aware something was wrong "within a couple of minutes."
 
She said: "(Fellow swimmer) Billy Tanner came in from the gym and said, "Is Michael ok?". I then saw him at the bottom of the pool."
 
Mrs Newcombe said after Mr McDonald, of Newport, Fife, was pulled from the water there were "no signs" of breathing, but after performing mouth-to-mouth, his "colour came back" and there were signs of life. Barry Smith QC, representing Hilton Hotels, said: "Mr McDonald was a well-known older man with health difficluties who you looked out for?" Mrs Newcombe replied: "We all did," adding that she and her staff were "very much" affected by his death.
 
Mr Smith asked: "If you had any concerns over the safety of the pool would you have drawn it to the attention of Hilton?" "Yes," she replied. "I was 100% satisfied with what we had in place."

Fighter
 
Earlier, Mr Tanner, 57, said he knew Mr McDonald "very well" and that both men were regulars at the club. Describing him as "a fighter", Mr Tanner said that Mr McDonald's Parkinsons Disease affected him in "a lot of ways", but he "didn't talk about it much". Mr Tanner said: "He would get tired. Some days he would shake a little bit. There was a gradual decline in his health. He would try and do as much as he could in the gym. He would also go for a swim."
 
The inquiry heard that the Livingwell pool, which was monitored by CCTV, was shallow around the edges and 1.9m deep in the middle.
 
On November 25 2011 the health club manager Jennifer Newcombe was on duty at the reception desk and Mr Tanner came into the pool area at around 7.35am. He said: "I saw an object on the bottom of the pool and I alerted the staff. I said to Jennifer: 'What the heck?'
 
"Her reply was: 'Oh God, that's Michael.'
 
"I saw what looked like a black object. When a pool is in motion you can't really see what's there. He wasn't floating, he was definitely on the bottom. I think his face would have been down. There was no movement at all. Jennifer jumped into the pool. I panicked, I didn't know what to do. You don't see many dead bodies in your life. Jennifer gave him mouth to mouth."
 
Sheriff Lorna Drummond QC is expected to give a written judgement in the case in the next month. The inquiry continues.