Swimmer, 37, died in charity fundraiser

A 37-year-old charity fundraiser and council worker drowned after swimming one 21-metre length of a sponsored swim at a Black Country leisure centre, an inquest heard.

Wolverhampton Council social services accountant Matthew Morgan, of Stafford, died in December 2008 at the city's Central Baths while raising money for the

Wolverhampton-based Kidney Patients Association. Dr Ye Lin Hock carried out the post mortem an inquest heard.

At Wolverhampton Magistrates Court yesterday he said that Mr Morgan probably drowned because he was suffering with hypertensive heart disease — which may have caused him to lose consciousness while in the pool.

Dr Hock said water entering his airways could have triggered cardiac arrest. Fitness instructor James McCamphill told the hearing how he watched the drama unfold from the window of the centre's gym.

"I saw the man as he pushed off from the shallow end, swam down to the other side, pushed off from the deep and then stop dead in the water," Mr McCamphill told Wolverhampton coroner Richard Allen. "He was face down, arms by his side, hunched over."

The court heard how Mr Morgan was underwater, about three quarters of the way into the 1.9 metre deep end, when lifeguard Kerry Wootton raised the pool alarm and entered the water to rescue him.

Centre receptionist June Griffiths called an ambulance at 11.40am while Ms Wootton pulled Mr Morgan to the poolside.

Former Stafford Rugby Club player Mr Morgan was 6ft 7ins and weighed around 17 stone. It took two people to lift him from the pool.

He was initially breathing and was given CPR by the first aid trained lifeguards and this continued when community paramedic officer Kurt Jones arrived at 11.54am.

But Mr Jones told the inquest that when he arrived Mr Morgan was not breathing and had no pulse. Treatment continued when an ambulance arrived at 12.10pm. He was pronounced dead at New Cross Hospital. Sports fan Mr Morgan of Tixall Road, Stafford, regularly took part in fundraising events to raise cash for Stafford's Katharine House Hospice and the town's branch of the Parkinson's Disease Society. The hearing continues.