Doncaster teen with '˜heart of gold' died after getting into trouble while swimming in lagoon at disused landfill site, inquest told

19-year-old Taylor Hugh Matthews arrived at the area known as '˜Skelbrooke Lake' - located at a former landfill site off Straight Lane, Skelbrooke  - with three friends at around 8.20pm on July 8 this year with the intention of going swimming, Doncaster Coroners' Court heard. 

In a statement read out in court, one of Taylor's teenage friends described how the group were '˜all buzzing' about going swimming in the lagoon, and had made the decision to go there during a 40-mile bike ride they had been on earlier that day. 

The jury of eight women and three men heard statements from several eye-witnesses to the fatal incident, who described the site as somewhere that was well-known for being a meeting place where people would '˜chill out' and go swimming during the summer months. 

The court heard how when Taylor, of Bentley, and his friends arrived at the lagoon there were already several people congregating on its banks, all of whom had accessed the private land, owned by FCC Environment, through a gap in the fence. 

Witnesses described there being a '˜lower' and a '˜higher' bank at the lagoon, the latter of which was estimated to be between 12 and 15 feet high, and the jury was told how Taylor and his friends headed straight for the higher bank on arrival. 

A friend of Taylor's said in a statement: 'Taylor said he wanted to jump in from the higher access point. Taylor said: '˜If you're going to do it, do it right'.'

The teenager subsequently jumped in, and his friends described how he shouted up to them about how cold the water was, at which point they told him to swim to the nearest bank where they said they would meet him. 

But moments later, people gathered around the lagoon noticed Taylor struggling to keep his head above the water and several of them, including two of his friends, jumped in the water to try and save him while others called the emergency services.