Parents agony over boy's speedboat death

Paul Gallagher

A family told today how a dream holiday ended in tragedy when their two-year-old son was killed by a speedboat.

The Gallagher family were sunbathing on a £10,000 break in the Bahamas when the boat went out of control and mounted the beach.

It missed Paul Gallagher, his daughter Heather and wife Andrea but its propeller sliced into the skull of their eldest son, also called Paul. He was taken to the Doctors Hospital in Nassau, where a surgeon said he had never seen a child with worse head injuries.

Paul suffered two heart attacks on the operating table but managed to survive for five days.

Today, the family was due to urge the South London coroner to press for a renewed police investigation when he opens a second inquest.

Their torment was deepened by what they see as the inadequacies of the local authorities investigating the accident on 15 August 2002.

Andrea, 37, and Paul, 40, believe it could have been avoided if they had received better warning from the lifeguards at the resort owned by South African millionaire Sol Kerzner. Mr Kerzner told the couple the incident was "a freaky accident".

They had been sunbathing when the boat's driver was thrown from the controls.

Mrs Gallagher said: "I heard a whistle, which made me turn my head. Then I saw the boat up in the air, about 2ft from my head. When I picked myself up I couldn't see because sand was in my eyes and mouth.

"I could hear Paul crying and I remember the feeling of relief because I thought he must have been okay. There were people around him. They had towels around his head so I couldn't see the extent of his injuries.

"He was going in and out of consciousness and they were telling me just to keep talking to him."

The family were at his bed when he died. Mrs Gallagher said: "They were giving him a lot of drugs but his heart couldn't take it. His blood pressure dropped and he died in front of

our eyes." A post-mortem examination in the UK revealed Paul had had all his organs removed without his parents' permission.

The Gallaghers, who run a recruitment business from their home in Kent, say the boat driver and his bosses at Sea And Ski Ocean Sports were not questioned by police and concerns over the validity of the company's insurance were raised.

They claim there was no record of the driver having a skipper's licence, and that the boat's seats had been replaced with loose boxes.

They say key witnesses were not called to Paul's first inquest in Nassau in June 2003, which recorded a verdict of accidental death. Mr Gallagher also claims that the owners' boats were involved in two accidents three years earlier - one fatal.

The family's solicitor, Warren Collins, said: "The family have faced a wall of silence from those they have looked on for help and have had to uncover many facts themselves."

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