A man told of his frantic attempt to save a youngster from drowning when he jumped into the River Medway at Tovil.

Stephen Francis was speaking at an inquest into the death of 12-year-old Alex Chappell from Haydon Close, Barming.

The youngster drowned whilst playing on a rope swing dangling from a tree branch overhanging the river.

An attached piece of wood slipped through a knot in the swing, sending him plunging into the water.

The Bank Holiday tragedy happened on Monday, May 30 last year as Alex and two school friends played by a stretch of the Medway next to Stampers play park.

Speaking at Wednesday’s inquest at County Hall in Maidstone, Mr Francis told how his stepson, one of the two boys with Alex, alerted him to his friend’s plight.

Mr Francis, whose house backs on to the play park, said: “He shouted, ‘Alex has fallen into river, they can’t see him.’

“I sprinted towards the river and jumped in, the cold took my breath away.”

Mr Francis said another man was already in the water but there was “no sign of Alex.”

“I was in the water by the rope swing, I had to feel my way around because the water was very dark and murky,” he told the inquest.

“I’m 6ft, but I couldn’t touch the bottom, so the water must have been about 12ft deep where I was.”

Mr Francis said he spent about 10 minutes looking for the youngster before returning home to call Alex’s mother, Gina Tweddell who was pregnant at the time of the tragedy.

He then dived back into the river to resume his search before police, who were called at 2.35pm, took over.

“I realised I wasn’t sure if we were going to find him,” Mr Francis said.

In a statement read to the inquest, one of Alex’s friends described seeing his friend’s desperate fight for life.

He said Alex shouted for help and went under the water twice before resurfacing.

“He didn’t come back the third time, “ the friend said.

Following a search by police marine teams and fire crews, Alex’s body was discovered at 4.15pm close to where he had fallen in.

He was taken by ambulance to Maidstone Hospital and pronounced dead at 5.28pm.

Miss Tweddel who attended the inquest with partner Adam Ottaway, told the hearing how her son, a former Astor of Hever pupil “could swim, but not strongly.”

Mid Kent and Medway coroner Patricia Harding recorded a verdict of accidental death.