Pool safety is reviewed after father drowned while playing with his children
A pool in Dudley where a father drowned is to be reviewed to see if any changes are needed to make it safer.
Dudley Council said experts would look at whether any action is required at Middle Pool at the Fens Pool Nature Reserve in Pensnett following the tragic death of Deon Mullings.
He failed to resurface after going into the water to retrieve his daughter's ball in July last year.
Mr Mullings, who lived in Holly Hall, Dudley, had been playing ball games with his daughters on a family trip to the beauty spot before tragedy struck.
It is not the only incident to have happened in the Middle Pool area of the nature reserve. In 2011, a schoolboy had to be rescued after falling 25ft down a bank.
The 15-year-old was trapped for one hour and 45 minutes before he was carried to safety by fire and ambulance crews.
The teenager slipped into the water between two pools while out with friends. The boy had been unable to scramble up the steep, muddy bank.
Children regularly play by the pool and it is now being considered whether better protection is needed, raising the possibility of fences or clearer warning signs being put up.
The council's environmental boss Hilary Bills said experts visited the council-managed site after the incident to see if any immediate changes were needed.
She added that bosses were now waiting for information from the coroner surrounding the circumstances of Mr Mullings' death before deciding on the next moves to be taken.
The council is in the process of preparing a report following the tragedy.
The 35-year-old father of four was pulled from the water by rescue divers and was taken to Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital, but could not be saved.
Councillor Bills said: "Following this very tragic event officers visited the site to see if any improvements could be made to the area and we are currently awaiting information from the coroner in order to finalise this review."
Following the death of Mr Mullings, his sister-in-law Hayley Walker-Mullings paid tribute, calling him a 'devoted father'. He was born in Jamaica and had moved to the Black Country around the turn of the century.
She said: "He was lovely, he was so quiet. He was a devoted father, his life was his wife and kids. He was so family-orientated. It was all about his family."
Dominic Rowley, 31, from Brierley Hill, saw the drama unfold. He told the Express & Star at the time: "We were sitting on the bank and saw a man and woman with one or two kids. A football went in the water and he started walking in after it. The ball was only five or six feet out but the ball went further and further out and within 10 seconds he went under. He never resurfaced.
"I phoned the ambulance. Police turned up and then paramedics. They waded in with long poles and life jackets but he was under the water for at least 45 minutes before they got him back out."
