A POLICE watchdog has ruled that cops could not have prevented the death of a man who drowned in a quarry.

The Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) made no recommendations to Police Scotland after their probe following the death of the 28-year-old at the Craigiehill Quarry in Troon on the evening of May 28.

The man was last seen by friends jumping into the water at around 8.30pm but he did not resurface.

The PIRC report published on Monday, December 10, found the private company who owned the quarry had sole responsibility for its safety and security.

Craigehill Quarry had also put up boundary fencing to try and keep people out, as well as danger signs warning people not to enter the water.

Between 2015 and 2018, a total of 11 reports had been made to Police Scotland over concerns about people using the quarry. The quarry, however, has not been in use for the past six years. Historically, during the summer months and periods of good weather, there have been numerous reports of both adults and children swimming and jumping from the rock faces into the pool of water despite the obvious dangers.

Before the man drowned, cops received a call from the quarry supervisor at around 2.53pm. He told police that during an inspection he had found evidence of people using the quarry over the weekend. He asked police to give the area attention while on patrol, but did not request that they attend at that time.

There was no indication in the call that anyone was at the quarry at that time. Due to other local demands on policing no resources were available at that time and as there had not been any other calls about the quarry by around 8pm, the incident was closed.

Later that evening, friends of the man contacted emergency services after they saw him jump into the water and not resurface. They attended the scene and the man’s body was later recovered from the water. A post mortem revealed the cause of death was drowning.

The PIRC was directed by the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) to investigate the circumstances leading up to the incident, in particular the background of the earlier reports to Police Scotland and the fact that no officers were available to respond to the concerns expressed in the call from the quarry supervisor.

The report found that there was no evidence to suggest that if the police had attended the quarry on the afternoon of May 28, the man’s subsequent death could have been prevented.

It also found that the police response to the report made earlier on the day the man drowned, and previous reports over the past three years were appropriate and proportionate to the circumstances reported.