A FRENCH lifeguard has been found guilty of manslaughter of a Brit schoolgirl who drowned during a school trip to France.
Jessica Lawson, 12, from East Yorkshire, died after a plastic pontoon in a lake near Limoges overturned in July 2015.
Leo Lemaire, 30, was today found guilty of “manslaughter through a clearly deliberate violation of an obligation of providing safety or prudence”.
The judges criticised Lemaire – who had denied any wrongdoing – for his “lack of vigilance” on the day of the tragedy.
He has been now sentenced to eight months in prison – all suspended – while the council in the French town where the tragedy happened was fined £17,000.
The court said the local council was particularly negligent in not putting up signs “warning of the dangers of swimming off the pontoon”.
Both Lemaire and the council were ordered to jointly pay damages to Jessica’s parents, Tony and Brenda Lawson, who now live in Portugal.
Jessica – the youngest pupil in the school trip – was hit on the head when the pontoon flipped over.
She was rescued from beneath the float by the lifeguard and then airlifted to a hospital in Limoges, but medics could not save her.
There were a total of 24 British pupils aged 12 to 17 in the water along with one teacher.
A criminal prosecution originally followed Jessica’s death.
In October 2022, teachers Chantelle Lewis, Daisy Stathers and Steven Layne – all from Wolfreton School which Jessica attended – were acquitted on charges of manslaughter caused by gross negligence.
Lemaire, who was on duty at the time of the accident in the Liginiac Lake, was acquitted too.
However, a new trial was launched after Jessica’s devastated family challenged the verdict, saying they wanted someone to be held responsible for her death.
The new trial was held at the Limoges Court of Appeal between May 30 and 31 this year – and was attended by Jessica’s parents.
After the latest verdict, a court spokesman said that Lemaire and the council were found guilty, while all the teachers were again found “not guilty”.
Throughout the proceedings, Lemaire insisted that he was used to seeing the orange pontoon overturn, and it was not considered dangerous.
He told the court: “I grew up right next to this stretch of water.
“I can’t count the number of times I went there and saw the platform turn over with swimmers on top of it, and there was never an accident.”
Tony Lawson, Jessica’s father, said: “Nine years ago I put my daughter on a school bus and she was not returned to me and I still don’t know why.
“After the first hearing, I didn’t want to speak out, but now, I have chosen to speak out because I still don’t really know what happened.
“Why can’t I, as Jessica’s father, ask some simple questions of the people who had my daughter in their care?”
Tony said he and his wife ‘lost everything’ following Jessica’s death and emigrated to Portugal from Britain in 2017 to try to rebuild their lives.
