A lot of of clear blue water separated Claire Comte from her goal when she and her friend Gemma Smith took the plunge to help a worthy cause.

Challenge - Claire Comte on the three-mile swim which she and friend Gemma Smith hope will raise enough from sponsors to buy a special wheelchair Picture: Terence Bunch 7ZDFF2

The two swimmers dived into the Warrior Square pool, in Southend, for a three-mile sponsored swim - and went the distance in two hours 20 minutes.

Between them they hope to have raised enough to buy a lightweight aluminium wheelchair for Neil Murray, 29, of Chelmsford Avenue, Southend.

Neil is receiving treatment in a spinal unit in the north of England after an accident last year left him paralysed from the hips down.

It happened when he suddenly lost his balance while sitting on a wall. Neil toppled backwards, falling heavily for five feet and fracturing his spine.

Claire, 48, of Colchester Close, Prittlewell, said: "If we raise more than the cost of the chair, he will still need all sorts of things when he comes out of hospital, hopefully within the next month."

Published Tuesday, March 12, 2002