Four-year-old British boy drowns in 'packed' family swimming pool at Tenerife hotel

A four-year-old British boy has drowned in a busy hotel swimming pool during a family holiday in Tenerife.

Presley Stockton, from Wigan, Greater Manchester, was spotted in the water at the four-star Paradise Park hotel in Los Cristianos.

He was pulled from the pool by lifeguards at 3.30pm on Wednesday, but medics could not resuscitate him.

His grandfather, Mike Jolley, described Presley as a “little angel” and said the family was “broken-hearted”.

Presley is believed to have been on a 10-day stay in the Canary Islands with a large group of family members, including parents and grandparents.

A hotel spokesman said: “He was in the family pool ... The pool was packed with children and families.”

He said it was “not a deep pool” and two lifeguards were watching over swimmers.

“One pulled him out, the other one came over and they were both doing procedures,” the spokesman added. ”Two to three minutes later an ambulance came, there were lots of ambulances, five or six doctors were trying to resuscitate.

“When they found out everybody was then saying: ‘My goodness how can this happen?’”

He said Presley “could not swim and had no armbands on”, adding: “It is just tragic, an absolute tragedy.”

In a Facebook post, Mr Jolley wrote: “Our little whirl wind Presley has been taken from us ... fly high my little angel, you was one in a million”.

Another relative, Michelle Allsop, wrote: “I am so truly sorry that this gorgeous little person has been taken from our family ... you didn’t deserve this to happen.”

The hotel said it was a “terrible, dark day in the history of our hotel but nothing compared to what the family are going through”.

“The family is a large family from the UK and we are aiming to give them all the support we can,” the spokesman added. “In our 30-year history we have never had that experience, this has never happened.

“It is just one of those terrible things. We want to get to the bottom of it.

“We are all very devastated really - the staff, the family, the other guests.”

Local police have launched an investigation into Presley’s death, taking witness statements and studying CCTV footage.

Paradise Park hotel has 376 rooms, five swimming pools and advertises itself as “fun lifestyle” accommodation.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: “Our consular staff are supporting the family of a British child who died in Tenerife and are in contact with Spanish authorities.”