Daily Express - 30.07.2019

Daily Express Tuesday, July 30, 2019 11

DX1ST

By Michael Knowles

By Michael Knowles

his father. In a heartfelt entry on his

fundraising page, the student wrote:

“When I was a young boy I helped my

father fundraising.

“He and his patient, injured boxer

Michael Watson, along with his carer

Lenny, walked the London Marathon

for the Brain and Spine Foundation.

“It took them six days and I swore

when I was old enough I would run it,

in the words of Michael, ‘for the bene-

fit of others less fortunate than me’. In

my village five young children have

just lost their mother to a brain

tumour, one family cares for their

daughter permanently disabled by a

head injury.

“One of my best friends lost his dad

to a stroke. My baby cousin, Maria,

died of a disorder that stopped her

brain developing.”

Police are yet to explain how

Dominic ended up in the water and

were last night treating his death as

“unexplained”.

A pathologist will carry out a post-

mortem and a coroner’s inquest will be

launched.

Kent Police said: “Police were called

to a house in Crundale, Canterbury, at

3.37am on Sunday following an inci-

dent in a swimming pool where a man

was found unconscious. The man was

taken to hospital where he later died.

“Police are investigating the circum-

stances around the incident.”

A UCL spokesperson said: “We are

deeply shocked and saddened to learn

of the death of a much-loved and

talented member of our alumni

community.

“Our thoughts are with his family

and friends at this difficult time.”

Eminent brain surgeon Peter Hamlyn

The family’s £3million Kent mansion and, circled, the swimming pool in which Dominic was found unconscious

Surgeon’s son dies

after ‘heart attack’

in the family pool

THE son of a renowned surgeon
drowned after reportedly suffering a
heart attack in the family swimming
pool, it emerged yesterday.
Dominic Hamlyn was pronounced
dead in hospital after paramedics had
battled to save him by the poolside in
the early hours of Sunday.
The amateur rugby player, 24, had
been visiting his family’s £3million
mansion in the village of Crundale,
near Canterbury, Kent.
Dominic, whose father is neurologi-
cal and spinal surgeon Peter Hamlyn,
graduated in science and engineering
from University College London.
He was studying for a Masters degree
in philosophy at Cambridge University.
Mr Hamlyn carried out life-saving
operations on middleweight boxing
champion Michael Watson after he
suffered a blood clot on his brain
minutes after his world title loss to
Chris Eubank in 1991.
His interventions were dubbed a
“medical miracle”.
Dominic was a keen fundraiser and
raised almost £6,000 for the Brain and
Spine Foundation charity founded by

Dominic

Hamlyn

had been

studying for

a Masters

degree at

Cambridge

Teens are asked to send explicit pics

Social media perverts groom 200,000 children

PAEDOPHILES have groomed

more than 200,000 schoolchildren

using social media sites, according

to the NSPCC.

Perverts prey on teenagers using

platforms such as Facebook, Twitter

and Instagram, before encouraging

them to use private messaging

services, the charity said.

Experts said the sites act as a

“gateway” for abusers to obtain or

send sexually explicit images and

blackmail their victims.

The NSPCC research showed

that one in 25 children had sent,

received or been asked to send

sexual content to or from an adult

on Snapchat or Facebook.

One in 33 had been approached

on Twitter and live-streaming

platform Twitch, and one in 50

children had exchanged explicit

material on Instagram and chat

service WhatsApp.

Peter Wanless, NSPCC chief

executive, warned: “The scale of

risk that children face on social

networks revealed in this research

cannot be ignored.”

The charity is calling on Prime

Minister Boris Johnson to

introduce new laws forcing tech

giants to protect children.

Mr Wanless explained: “Tech

firms need to use technology to

identify suspicious behaviour and

design young people’s accounts

with built-in protections.”

The charity is also calling for a

new independent regulator and

wants the algorithms that link up

people with mutual friends to be

switched off for children.

Ben, 14, was blackmailed this

way by a pervert on Facebook.

He said: “He made dark threats

against my mum and dad.

“He said he was going to kill

them unless I sent photos.

“He knew everything about my

parents – their names, where they

worked, where they socialised.

“I was scared he’d really do it, so

I sent them.”