A teenager with learning difficulties died after falling into a puddle while walking his dog in his local park.
Thomas Owen, 18, from Hale, Altrincham, who also suffered from epilepsy, would always tell his mum Jayne how long he would be when he took his puppy Buster for a walk.
But when he didn’t come home for more than an hour on June 22, Jayne became worried and rushed to the nearby park.
When she got there, she saw paramedics attempting to revive her son.
Thomas was pronounced dead five minutes after arriving at Wythenshawe Hospital.
Jayne, 46, said: ‘I heard the sirens as I was about to get into the shower. I just thought, “Please not Thomas”, as he’d been a bit longer than he said he would.
‘I rushed out in my pyjamas and saw three paramedics and two policemen crowded around Thomas who was lying on the floor.
‘They were trying to revive him and I was shouting, “No, Thomas, don’t you dare leave me.” I went with him in the ambulance but I knew it was already too late.
‘They tried all they could but no-one had any idea how long he had been lay in that puddle for. Five minutes after we got to hospital they told me we had lost him.’
Buster had been a gift for Thomas’ 18th birthday last October to help him get over his fear of dogs.
His mother says he adored him and took him for walks everyday.
Jayne and her husband Stephan are now demanding an apology from the council, who had allegedly not filled in the waterlogged ‘hole’ in the middle of the local park despite requests from several local residents.
The 46-year-old said: ‘I would like an apology from the council. This shouldn’t have had to happen for them to finally take action.
‘We heard from a neighbour that the hole had been filled in, with grass seeds planted on top and a fence put around it.
