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A health and safety prosecution against a hospitality company after two people drowned in the swimming pool at Down Hall Country House at Hatfield Heath, Essex, has been dropped.
The trial of ThenHotels LLP, which was scheduled to begin later this month at Chelmsford Crown Court, was called off after the judge who was to hear the case was told that the Crown has withdrawn the allegations against the company which had already pleaded not guilty to two offences.
The prosecution was launched following the deaths of Josephine Foday, 22, and her married lover, Komba Kpakiwa, 31, in April 2013.
The bodies of the couple were found floating in the pool at about 7pm. An inquest in May last year recorded that they both died accidentally.
Co-defendant, the hotel owner Veladail Hotels, of Mayfair, London, had earlier pleaded guilty to the same two offences and will be sentenced shortly – although no date has yet been set.
Down Hall hotel no longer has a swimming pool after it was converted into a spa.
