Three British teachers have been found not guilty of the equivalent of manslaughter by gross negligence after the death of a “beautiful and outgoing” 12-year-old pupil on a French school trip.
Jessica Lawson, from Wolfreton school in Willerby, near Hull, died when a pontoon capsized in a lake near Limoges in south-west central France. She was the youngest student on the trip in July 2015.
At the Palais de Justice in the French town of Tulle on Wednesday, Steven Layne, Chantelle Lewis and Daisy Stathers were all cleared of any wrongdoing. Local prosecutors had argued the trio deserved three years in jail for their part in the girl’s death. The lifeguard on duty at the time, Leo Lemaire, and the local authority in the town of Liginiac were also found not guilty.
