Madness of dinghy jaunt mother in sea rescue

Published on Wednesday 1 July 2009 21:59

A SHERIFF told a mother yesterday she was "mad" to allow herself and three young children to be swept a mile out to sea in a tiny inflatable dinghy.

Jacqueline Little and the children – two aged eight and a five-year-old – had to be plucked from the sea by Troon Lifeboat after sparking a rescue operation which also involved police, coastguards and paramedics.

They went into the water at Ayr beach in an inflatable without oars, life jackets or flares.

At Ayr Sheriff Court yesterday, Sheriff John Montgomery told Little, 38, of Glasgow: "You must have had a terrible scare that day. You now realise how silly you were to accede to the children's wishes to go out in this dinghy.

"This was truly a moment of madness."

Depute fiscal Victoria Hart said that Little and the three children put the dinghy in the sea at Ayr beach on 1 June last year.

They began to drift out, and realising the peril they were in as the weather deteriorated, Little contacted a family friend on her mobile phone. The friend contacted the police, who alerted the coastguard.

Troon Lifeboat was launched and the four were rescued some 40 minutes later.

Little admitted wilfully treating the three children in a manner likely to cause them unnecessary suffering and placing their lives in danger, contrary to the Children and Young Persons Act. Sentence was deferred.