A Virgin Active gym has been fined £100,000 after a young model was found dead in the pool.

Miss Carneau, of Popes Lane, was an Imperial College graduate, a former model, and had been working in finance at the time of her death.

A judge fined the heath club after prosecutors told the hearing at Southwark Crown Court on Friday December 20 that staff failed to check the pool every 30 minutes.

The club had previously pleaded guilty to one offence under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and to another offence under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 at Hammersmith Magistrates Court on October 15.

The offences were found following an investigation by Environmental Health Officers from Kensington and Chelsea Council into the death of Elsa who had been swimming at the Virgin Active Club at 17a Old Court Place, Kensington.

Elsa's father Pierre is quoted as saying: "We are interested in only one thing - to try and understand exactly what happened, there are still a number of questions. This is the beginning of an explanation. We hope a number of other important things will be addressed in due course."

The court heard how on December 3 2011 Miss Elsa Carneau, 25, drowned whilst swimming in the pool at the club.

Miss Carneau was not a club member but had previously used the facilities as a guest of a club member. On the day of the incident, Elsa Carneau was allowed to enter the club unaccompanied, despite this being against the club’s rules, where she swam lengths.

The swimming pool was not required to have lifeguards but was monitored by CCTV and physical pool side checks. However, the single CCTV camera, which was located at one end of the pool, failed to provide a clear view of the whole pool and did not cover the end of the pool where Elsa Carneau got into difficulty.

After some time, the other swimmers became concerned that she was underwater and not moving. Finding her unconscious, Elsa Carneau was lifted out of the pool but, sadly, attempts to resuscitate at pool side were unsuccessful.

Summing up His Honour Judge McCreath, Hon. Recorder of Westminster, highlighted that there was foreseeable risk and a serious breach of Virgin Active’s duty and that there was evidence of inadequate supervision on the day.

He also highlighted that the CCTV was defective in two significant ways in that it did not cover the whole pool and that the pictures to front of house lacked clarity.

He also acknowledged that it was impossible to demonstrate corporate faults of Virgin Active causing this death and that strong arrangements and corporate structures were in place and that the company generally had a good safety record.

Cllr Tim Ahern, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea’s Cabinet Member for Environmental Health, said: “This was a very sad case for officers to investigate. What they found was a failure to have proper procedures and risk assessments in place to ensure safe monitoring of the pool.”