Police risked their lives to try to save boys from Solihull lake, inquest told

Drowning of Samuel and Finlay Butler, Thomas Stewart and Jack Johnson in frozen lake was terrible accident'

Police officers risked their lives to form a human chain across a frozen lake in Solihull to try to reach four boys who drowned after falling through the ice, an inquest into their deaths has heard.

Brothers Samuel and Finlay Butler, aged eight and six, and their cousin Thomas Stewart, 11, had gone to Babbs Mill Lake, Kingshurst, on 11 December last year to feed the ducks, while Jack Johnson, 10, was skimming stones with friends.