Three British teachers have been found not guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence at a French court following the death of a British 12-year-old who drowned in a lake while on a school trip.
Teachers Steven Layne, Chantelle Lewis and Daisy Stathers were cleared of the French equivalent of gross negligence manslaughter after the death of Jessica Lawson, 12, in July 2015.
Giving her verdicts through a translator to the Palais de Justice in Tulle on Wednesday, the head of jurisdiction in Tulle, Marie-Sophie Waguette, said of the incident: "The area was being surveyed by the lifeguard, the lifeguard was present, the flag was green."We don't know why her drowning took place at the time when the platform turned over.
Ms Lewis was offered the chance to say something before the head of jurisdiction in Tulle adjourned proceedings, where the PE teacher said the pain is "different to what the family experiences".Ms Lewis's legal representative, Florian Godest Le Gall, said the teachers' reaction times were the shortest possible, adding that dynamically monitoring children does not mean looking at one student "every microsecond".