Appeal over school canoe deaths

The managing director of the activity centre that organised a canoe trip in which four children died is to appeal against his conviction for manslaughter.

If his attempt at the Court of Appeal fails, Peter Kite, 46, is also seeking leave to appeal against his three-year sentence passed at Winchester Crown Court in December 1994.

Kite was head of the St Albans Centre which was also convicted of four manslaughter charges and fined pounds 60,000.

Four sixth-formers from Plymouth died in March 1993 during what was described at the trial as an ill-conceived and poorly executed canoe trip to Lyme Bay, Dorset.

Mr Justice Ognall told Kite, of Richmond, south-west London, at his trial that he had been found criminally responsible although he did not intend to harm the children. The victims were Dean Sayer, 17, Simon Dunne, Claire Langley and Rachel Walker, all 16.