Safety probe is launched after jockey drowns in pool

Published on 28/06/2012 12:00

AN investigation has been ordered into claims of inadequate safety precautions at the Greek swimming pool where jump jockey Campbell Gillies drowned.

The 21-year-old from Haddington, East Lothian, who won his first Cheltenham Festival race this year, was on holiday with friends in Corfu when he died on Tuesday morning. Tests found he had drunk a “considerable amount” of alcohol.

Police said Mr Gillies and his friends were in the pool an hour before it was due to open at 9am.

A Greek police spokesman said Corfu’s public prosecutor had ordered an investigation into the owners of the rented apartments where Mr Gillies had been staying after preliminary charges were levelled against them over potentially inadequate safety precautions at the pool.

The spokesman said it seemed the group had violated regulations by using the pool before it opened. “On the other hand there was no protective barrier such as a net or iron bars to prevent them from entering it. It is therefore a mixed situation which must be investigated further.”