A BUSINESSMAN has told of how he watched his partner drown after trying to rescue their daughter from the sea while on holiday in Australia.

Kevin Lewis and his partner, Jacqueline Robinson, who lived in Ramsgate, rushed to help their 12-year-old daughter Stephanie when she became caught in a riptide.

However, the couple were also pulled into the strong currents at Rainbow Beach on Queensland's sunshine coast last September.

All three were eventually dragged from the water by passers-by using rope, but the 37-year-old mother of two was already unconscious by the time she reached the sand.

Mr Lewis, who had lived with Ms Robinson for 15 years, told an inquest in Broadstairs, that he could see she was in trouble as they swam.

He said: “She could not get to the beach, and she was tiring. I could hear her crying for help. When she was being brought out of the surf I saw her head under the water. At one point she seemed to be standing, but then she was being lifted out of the water.”

Mr Lewis said resuscitation was attempted and at first there seemed to be signs of life. “She was coughing up water,” he said.

However Ms Robinson was later pronounced dead on the beach.

The family, from Ramsgate, were in Australia for the wedding of 49-year-old Mr Lewis’s son from a previous relationship.

The inquest heard a statement from one of the passers-by, 66-year-old Don Williams, who pulled Ms Robinson from the sea. He said she had been swimming towards safety when a wave went over her head.

“She was not strong enough to get back to the surface,” he said.

The coroner, Miss Rebecca Cobb, recorded a verdict of accidental death due to saltwater drowning.

Rainbow Beach - around 100 miles and two hours' drive north of Brisbane - is popular with tourists, despite being accessible only by four-wheel-drive vehicles. The area is not patrolled by lifeguards.

Mr Lewis, who used to own several bars and nightclubs in Ramsgate, including Havana’s nightclub, still lives in the town with Stephanie and the couple’s other daughter, 10-year-old Charlotte.