Paddleboarder who drowned at Dovestone Reservoir died 'doing what he loved'

Simon Daniels got into difficulty while paddle boarding with his girlfriend

An “adventurous” personal trainer who went paddleboarding in a Greater Manchester reservoir “died doing what he loved”, an inquest has heard. Simon Daniels drowned after he got into difficulty at the Dovestone Reservoir in Oldham on Sunday, October 20, last year.

The 29-year-old had been paddleboarding with his girlfriend, Holly Ditchens, when the pair entered “choppy waters” and drifted around 100 metres from shore.

An inquest into his death was held at the Rochdale Coroners' court on Wednesday (April 23). The court heard Simon and Holly had gone to the beauty spot as part of a group trip that was organised by Simon via WhatsApp group chat containing friends and family.

The court heard how the plan was to walk around the reservoir and go paddle boarding afterwards. However, Simon and Holly, both from Winsford, Cheshire, had arrived late, and after he told the group of their arrival, the pair decided to begin paddle boarding while the others made their way to them.

The court heard how the pair had entered the river without any life jackets, weren't strapped to the board and only had one oar between them. The court heard how Simon had sent a video into the WhatsApp group showing the pair approaching the water.

Holly described the weather as “clear”, the water as “steady” and she said “at that time there was no sign that the weather would turn.”

The inquest heard that the couple fell off the paddle board “several times”, during one of the falls they lost the oar that they were using and the final time they fell off the board it rapidly floated away from them.

Holly told the court how she began to “panic”, while Simon grabbed a hold of her to calm her down and began screaming for help. The pair managed to remain together for a short while before they separated.

The court heard how Simon then “seized up” and Holly “began shouting ‘Simon’ but he could not answer.” Holly managed to swim onto shore, where a member of the public was able to pull her out of the water.

However, Simon, who had been laying on his back to stay afloat, drifted further away - with eyewitness stating that he was around 60 to 100 metres away from shore.

The inquest was told how Holly called out to Simon multiple times, with no response, and asked “why’s nobody going out to save him?". However, Joshua Allred, the member of public who had rushed to save them said the water was too cold and they were unable to re-enter.

A major emergency services operation was launched and Simon’s body was recovered on Wednesday October 23.

A post-mortem examination of Simon's body conducted by Dr Titi concluded that there was no there was no signs of physical injuries and gave the medical cause of death as drowning.

During the inquest, it was revealed that two “potent stimulants” were found in Simon's system. One was cocaine and the other was a relatively unknown drug called methylmethcathinone or MMC.

Hassan Kurimbokus, a toxicologist, told the court that while there was “quite a low level” of drugs found in Simon’s blood it still had the “potential to impair his ability to swim or stay afloat” due to their potency.

Speaking to the court, Daniel’s sister, Sarah, described him as a “loving character” who was a "strong swimmer" with having once worked as a lifeguard. She said he also "loved his adventures" and enjoyed walking, hiking and the gym.

Senior coroner Joanne Kearsley concluded his death was accidental. In her parting words, she said the death of "any young person is tragic" and added that she "can’t imagine how hard that’s been for" Simon's siblings and parents.

She went on to say that Simon died "doing what he loved doing, bringing those people together", before offering her condolences to the family.