AN adventure sports operator has been ordered to pay compensation to the family of a former Worcester schoolgirl who drowned while river boarding in New Zealand.

Emily Jordan, aged 21, of Trimpley, near Bewd-ley, was riding a body board on fast-flowing rapids when she became trapped in the Kawarau River Gorge on New Zealand’s South Island in April last year.

Black Sheep Advent-ures – which trades as Mad Dog River Boarding – and company director Brad McLeod had both denied three charges each of failing to ensure the safety of customers.

But at a court hearing in New Zealand on Mon-day all charges against Mr McLeod and one against Black Sheep Adventures were drop-ped. The company pleaded guilty to the other two charges. It was fined 66,000 New Zealand dollars (£27,600) and ordered to pay £33,500 in compensation to Miss Jordan’s family.

Queenstown District Court heard that Mad Dog River Boarding guides did not carry ropes and that the company’s safety operation plan fell short of industry standards.

Miss Jordan – a former pupil of the Alice Ottley School in Worcester, before it merged with the Royal Grammar School – was trapped underwater by a rock for 20 minutes until another boat carrying ropes arrived and freed her body on April 29.

Speaking from the family home in Trimpley before the ruling, Miss Jordan’s mother Sarah said she was pleased the company had pleaded guilty but found it “incredible” that New Zealand does not have any corporate manslaughter charges on its statute books. She said: “It just seems incredible that there are no corporate manslaughter charges in New Zealand, which is part of the reason why these activities go on.

“These companies, especially some of them, know that they can get away with no safety regulations, no training, no safety equipment.”

Miss Jordan’s father, Chris, who was in court, told Radio New Zealand he always hoped to see a conviction and hoped to see changes taking place with regard to the way river boarding and some other extreme sports were run.

Mr Jordan said it had been hard to listen to some of the details about how his daughter died, especially because of “the preventable nature of some of the things that happened.”.