Erin Madden, 15, died on Thursday after swimming with friends in the Carr Mill Dam. The young teenager was out enjoying the recent sunshine and swimming in the water when she got into difficulty. Her mother, Kirsty Madden, paid an emotional tribute to her “beautiful soul” of a daughter, as the Liverpool Echo reports.
She said Erin was “capable of anything” and had her “whole life ahead of her”.
The tragedy has rocked the community, with hundreds of tributes pouring in after the death in St Helens.
Kirsty shared her tribute on the St Helens Borough Council Facebook page.
She responded to a post warning people of the dangers of swimming in open water following Erin’s death.
The mourning mother wrote: “This dam needs draining, my daughter lost her life in there yesterday.”
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She continued: “How many more times does this need to keep happening to children until something is done?
“My girl had her whole life ahead of her she was capable of anything and it’s all been ripped away.
“We are all devastated beyond words and my life will never be the same again.
“I love you Erin with my heart and soul forever and always.”
On Thursday, Erin’s friends called for help at around 12.30pm as emergency services scrambled to find the teenager.
Sadly, the schoolgirl’s body was later recovered from the water.
Flowers have been left at the scene of the dam, while a fundraising page sharing pictures of Erin has also been set up by Toni Ward, a friend of the family
The GoFundMe page has raised £1,700 at the time of writing, with the donations going towards the “cost of Erin’s funeral to give her the best send off she deserves and also to help Kirsty and the children at this heartbreaking time”.
Merseyside Police Chief Inspector for St Helens Paul Holden announced the death: “It is with great sadness that we can confirm that the body of the teenage girl has been recovered from the water.
“Our sincere condolences go to her family and friends during this tragic time.
“I would appeal to anyone who was visiting Carr Mill Dam at around midday onwards to please get in touch so we can ascertain what happened and provide her family with answers.”
Witness Adele Laitak, 50, from Liverpool, said she had been walking around the dam when she heard shouting.
She said: “I heard a girl shouting. It sounded like she was in distress but we couldn’t see anything from where we were. As we came round, we saw fire engines.
“It sounded to me like she was saying ‘help’ but because we were over the other side of the lake we didn’t know if it was just kids messing around.
“A police lady who was at the edge of the lake said a child’s gone missing and some women told us two children had gone into the water but one had managed to get out.”
