A father of two who died in a vain bid to save a drowning boy in a disused quarry should be recognised with a posthumous bravery award, a coroner has recommended.
Local government worker Colin Polland (39), who was originally from Co Down but lived in Ilford, Essex, drowned after jumping into the remote waterhole in a effort to save Kevin O’Hare (15), from Dromara, Co Down.
An inquest into the two deaths heard how his widow Adele Polland swam out into the cold water when her husband disappeared below the surface but was unable to get deep enough to reach him.
Ms Polland said she was forced to swim back to land because the coldness was starting to overcome her.
“I made a decision that I did not want my children to lose two parents,” she said.
The coroner assured Ms Polland that she had made the correct decision swimming back to land.
At the hearing into June’s tragedy near the Co Down seaside village of Annalong, Northern Ireland’s senior coroner, John Leckey, praised the actions of the Pollands and of two police officers who also entered the water at Paul’s Quarry to try to save the victims.
“I would recommend that his bravery is recognised posthumously in some way.”
Mr Leckey ruled that both victims died from drowning.