'Courageous' bid to save children

A judge today praised a man who tried to save three children trapped in a car that had plunged into a lake.

Brian McCaig was sunbathing at a Bedfordshire beauty spot, the Blue Lagoon, last July when he saw the car containing driver Courtney Barker, 22, Clair Armstrong, 23, and her children, "fly" off a 20ft cliff and into the water. The two boys and a girl, aged six, five and two, drowned.

Mr McCaig told Luton Crown Court how he and a friend dived in but were beaten by the appalling visibility. Justice Sir Michael Wright expressed " the court's appreciation for your own personal courage".

Barker denies manslaughter. The case continues.