Boy, 3, drowns in villa swimming pool

A three-year-old Northern Ireland boy drowned in a swimming pool after leaving the French holiday villa he was staying in with his family, it was confirmed today.

A British Embassy spokesman in Paris said the tragedy happened at about midnight last night in the Dordogne area of France.

It is not known who discovered the youngster’s body, and family details have not been released.

The spokesman said arrangements were being made to fly the body home to Northern Ireland.

The young boy was staying in the villa with his family in the town of Cherval, 80 miles north east of Bordeaux, a Foreign Office spokesman confirmed.