Lake mum dived in to save children

A mother whose three children died when her boyfriend's car plunged into a lake spoke today of the terrifying moments leading up to the tragedy.

Claire Armstrong, 23, sobbed as she told how she tried desperately to rescue the youngsters from the flooded chalk pit known as the Blue Lagoon in Arlesey, Bedfordshire, last July.

She told the court that as the car toppled over the water's edge, she was sitting in the back seat holding onto her children and the seats.

Miss Armstrong said: "We were very close to the edge. The car went over and the front of it hit the water. I was holding my daughter and the seats.

"The water came into the car. I don't know how it was that I got out. It seemed a long time before my head came up. I could not breathe and I was treading water. I just got out on the other side."

The court heard that in an earlier statement to police, she had said: "I tried to dive back down in the water but could not get back down to the car."

Her boyfriend, Courtney Barker, 22, a fork-lift truck driver, denies three counts of manslaughter. Miss Armstrong said there was nothing about Mr Barker's driving that day that gave her any cause for concern. Asked about the minutes before her children were killed, she said Mr Barker was driving at about 10 or 20mph.

Luton Crown Court has heard that Mr Barker, Miss Armstrong, a friend and Miss Armstrong's three children travelled to the Blue Lagoon on a hot day. After their Vauxhall Astra estate plunged over a 20ft cliff and into the lake the adults escaped as the car overturned and sank. But Miss Armstrong's children - Imran Khan, six, Aaron Khan, five, and Sharla Blair, two - drowned.

The court has heard that Mr Barker had never had a driving lesson or passed a driving test. The prosecution alleges that he drove in a "grossly negligent manner", propping the driver's door open with his right foot and operating the pedals with his left foot.

Mr Barker denies this and told the court the accelerator pedal jammed as he rolled towards the edge of the cliff causing him to panic.

The case continues.