Drayton Manor death: decision ‘yet to be made’ on whether to prosecute theme park

• Evha Jannath died in May 2017 after falling from a water ride at Drayton Manor Park.
• A week-long jury inquest has been set for 4 November.
• The Health and Safety Executive said it had yet to decide whether or not to bring criminal charges over the case.

A decision has yet to be made over whether to prosecute a theme park more than two years after a schoolgirl died following a water ride fall, a coroner has heard.

Evha Jannath, who was 11, died after falling from the Splash Canyon water ride at Drayton Manor theme park in Tamworth, Staffordshire, in May 2017.

She was one of a party of children on a school trip to the park from Jameah Girls Academy in Leicester.

• Read more: Family fight for theme park safety after girl’s death
• Read more: Hundreds attend funeral of girl who died at theme park
• Read more: First pictures as Drayton Manor Park reopens

An investigation into the death was handed over by Staffordshire Police to the Health and Safety Executive in March.

At the time, police said: “a decision has been made that the circumstances surrounding Evha’s death do not meet the threshold for gross negligence or corporate manslaughter”. Passing the file to the HSE, it added the decision had followed a “thorough and lengthy” investigation and review by the Crown Prosecution Service.

A week-long jury inquest is now due to be held in Stafford on November 4.

At a pre-inquest hearing today, Monday 22 July, no decision had yet been made by the HSE on whether or not to bring criminal charges in connection with the incident.

Helen Wood, for the HSE, said: