A 20-YEAR-OLD medical student tragically drowned after swimming to rescue three struggling women at a popular UK beach.
Jack Edward Lees was an aspiring brain surgeon who joined a university trip to Bude, Cornwall, in June last year.
He went to the beach town with Bristol University Student Union’s Wild Swimming Society and stayed in a campsite in a field just north of Northcott Mouth Beach.
When a few of the students went to enjoy an evening swim on June 4, brave Jack spotted three panicking girls struggling in the sea and swam 500m out to help them with a friend.
Jack was unable to make it back to shore as bigger waves set in, and he tragically drowned after his heroic actions, an inquest heard.
His devastated mother, Dr Dawn Lees, told the inquest that he died trying to rescue three fellow students who were part of a 60-strong university wild swimming club.
Dr Lees told the coroner her 20-year-old son, from Holsworthy, Devon, was “an amazing young man with his whole life in front of him.”
She claimed there was a sign near the secluded beach near Northcott Mouth, Bude, which said “do not enter the water” although police and one of Jack’s friends said this wasn’t the case.
Dr Lees told the hearing that Jack and a male friend swam 150 metres out to help the three young students – two of them managed to get back to shore – but the third was struggling as they swam on an outgoing tide.
She claimed Jack tried to hold up the third student in the rip tide as large waves crashed over them – although the woman told the hearing she tried to keep Jack above the cold water.
Dr Lees said she is haunted that her son would have been frightened at what was happening to him and she said: “They should not have gone out there.
“Jack would do anything for anyone. He was a gentleman in his life and in his death.
Jack would have run towards danger.”
She criticised the lack of location risk assessments and safety training in high-risk student activities like wild swimming.
The third student Jack was helping to save said she and Jack were caught in a rip tide and it was difficult to breathe normally and she was panicking.
She said: “I was scared.”
The student said she tried to hold up Jack’s head but she did not want to waste energy by swimming and concentrated on staying afloat until rescue came.
In the end, she managed to scramble ashore but was exhausted and emotional.
A* student Jack was sent to turn 21 just a few days before he disappeared and his body was discovered on Upton Beach on June 18.
The beach wasn’t lifeguarded and had a sign warning beachgoers not to go into the sea.
The inquest heard there were 20 students from the swimming society on the beach and 10 in the water.
Jack’s shock death prompted a response from the Bristol University Student Union to improve safety in dangerous sports societies including rock climbing, caving, and wild swimming.
Ben Pilling, chief executive of the Bristol University Students’ Union, said members of the wild swimming society should be responsible swimmers who are confident in the water.
He said there was no training for members and only one member had lifeguard training but was not on the trip to Bude.
With only one experienced wild swimmer, he said swimming conditions had changed very quickly that evening but there was no specific risk assessment for the Bude trip.
Changes had been made so there are no longer visits to open coastal waters with tides and currents and go to inland sites and have provided safety advice and equipment.
Dr Lee said the tragic event led to hundreds of students attending his memorial, offering heartfelt tributes to the young man.
Primary school friends raised £11,300 for the RNLI in his honour and a plaque at the university is covered with fingerprints and kisses.
Detective Sergeant Tom McIntyre, the officer in the case, told the inquest that Jack’s actions had been nothing short of heroic.
He said: “This was an event when students went to the area for a swim and Jack entered the water heroically to save others that were in trouble in the water and during those efforts, he got into trouble himself and didn’t manage to get out.”
The assistant Cornwall coroner Emma Hillson heard lifeguards go off duty at 6pm – this incident happened after 9pm – at beaches.
She said admirably Jack had put himself in danger to try to help others but died as a result.
She said: “He had the brave intention to enter the water to help others in difficulty.
“He placed his own safety at risk to help others which led to this tragic outcome.”
