Police officers formed a human chain and entered a freezing lake against medical advice to try and save four boys who had fallen into icy water, an inquest into their deaths has heard.
Brothers Samuel Butler, six, and Finlay Butler, eight, their cousin Thomas Stewart, 11, and Jack Johnson, 10, had been “playing” on the frozen Babbs Mill Lake, in Kingshurst, Solihull, near Birmingham, on December 11 2022 before the ice fragmented and they fell through. An inquest at Birmingham and Solihull Coroner’s Court in Birmingham on Friday (July 7) heard emotional family tributes to the four boys, who died in hospital after they were rescued from the water by firefighters.
The boys had been at the lake in two separate groups, with Jack and other children initially going to skim stones before heading out onto the ice, and Fin, Sam and Tom intending to feed bread to the ducks. The court heard Fin fell in first, with Tom and Jack going to help but falling in themselves. It is thought Sam fell as he rushed to help.
