AN inquest has heard how a man died a hero after saving his 13-year-old stepdaughter from drowning in a reservoir.

Tricia Nowell, 33, was enjoying a spring evening by the Anglezarke Reservoir, between Blackburn and Chorley, when her partner of 10 years, Andrew Smith, 34, drowned.

An inquest at Preston Magistrates’ Court heard that Mr Smith, from Atherton, Greater Manchester, had swum out after his stepdaughter Amy, 13, lost her footing and fell in.

Miss Nowell said Mr Smith managed to rescue Amy and bring her close to the shore before the family alsatian, Scooby, swam out to them and carried Amy the last few metres to safety.

Choking back tears, Miss Nowell told the inquest her partner was unable to make it to the bank and disappeared beneath the surface.

She said she left her daughters, Jodie, seven, and Amy by the lake and dived in to help him but could not reach him due to the current “pulling her into the depths”.

Lancashire assistant deputy coroner Howard McCann recorded a verdict of accidental death.

He said: “It seems to me that what started as simply a spring evening turned to tragedy. "Regrettably it follows similar incidents we have experienced of people swimming in reservoirs and being overcome.”

Speaking outside court, Mr Smith’s brother, Graham Smith, from Atherton, Greater Manchester, said his son had died a “hero”.

He said: “That’s just the kind of person he was, always putting everybody else before himself. “