UPDATE: |Carer ‘could have jumped in canal’ after disabled man in double drowning tragedy News

Support worker Ceri Jenkins and Aaron Ritchie drowned in the freezing Leeds and Liverpool Canal in Wigan

A support worker who drowned in a freezing canal ‘could have jumped in’ after the disabled man he was caring for, an inquest heard.

Ceri John Jenkins, 60, and Aaron Ritchie, 49, drowned in Wigan in a double tragedy in November 2023. Mr Ritchie, who the jury heard had autism, epilepsy and a mental age of 10 or less, was a long-term resident of Mayfield House care home in the town, while Mr Jenkins was his care worker on the day.

The pair were walking together on a towpath of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in Abram, near Crankwood Road on a day when the temperature was said to be 2-3C. It was said to be one of Mr Ritchie’s favourite walks and a route he had taken a ‘thousand times’.

The jury at Bolton Coroner’s Court heard of a 15 minute ‘window’ between when they were last seen and when witnesses saw them in the water near bridge number five. Timothy Brennand, the coroner, said it wasn’t known who entered the water first.

Giving evidence on Tuesday, Lee Scully, the registered manager at Mayfield House, told the jury Mr Ritchie ‘loved’ going out for a walk and described it as a ‘core part of his support’. He added: “Because the canal was flat and because Aaron walked on the balls of his feet and sometimes needed extra support it was the perfect place for him.”

The jury was previously told Mr Jenkins had saved the life of a student who had fallen into a canal when he worked at a high school in Wigan.

Asked by the coroner if support workers had been trained in what to do if someone fell into water, Mr Scully said: “The advice is to call emergency services and follow instructions. Within the training it’s covered not to put your own life in danger.”

Asked by the coroner ‘What’s the first thing someone like Ceri would do if Aaron fell into the canal?’ Mr Scully replied: “Yes, he could have made the judgement and jumped in.”

The inquest heard Mayfield House didn’t have a specific open water risk assessment in place at the time of Mr Jenkins and Mr Ritchie’s deaths. Instead staff were trained in the use of ‘dynamic risk assessment’, a process of continuously assessing risk and danger in real time.

Under questioning by Adam Lodge, the solicitor representing Mr Jenkins’ family, Mr Scully said Mr Ritchie falling the water ‘wasn’t a risk that was identified,’ adding: “There was nothing to suggest he would end up in the water, It was a very low risk.”

The inquest heard that since the deaths a ‘specific open water risk assessment’ had been put in place. Asked by Mr Lodge ‘Would you have done anything different in terms of risk assessment and training?’, Mr Scully replied: “I think how we responded was reasonable and proportionate.”

The inquest also heard Mr Ritchie had been referred to an epilepsy nurse after experiencing an increase in the number of seizures he was having in the months before his death. In November 2023 he suffered 12 seizures, including one the night before his death that was described as ‘very intense’.

Asked if that was taken into account when assessing if it was safe for Mr Ritchie to be taken out on the canal towpath, Mr Scully replied: “All of [the seizures] happened within the home, not on activity.”

Jon Horsfall, regional director for the Canal and River Trust, which manages the canal, told the inquest the condition of the towpath in that area was ‘very, very good’ and said bridge number five was ‘not a known hotspot’ for antisocial or unsafe behaviour.

Mr Ritchie’s cause of death was given as ‘cold water drowning’. Mr Jenkins’ cause of death was given as ‘drowning’.

Proceeding.