THE mother of a teenager swept to her death while training for the Ten Tors Challenge was yesterday forced to insist she had never spoken to her daughter's friends about their inquest evidence.

Jennifer Wilkin-Shaw, whose daughter Charlotte died in 2007 when she was just 14, took to the witness box after new evidence implied she may have pressurised the youngsters.

But she said categorically that she had never spoken to the girls about their evidence. Her legal team instead accused one teacher of trying to deflect blame from herself.

The dramatic exchange also exposed the heartbreaking revelation that Charlotte's friend, Yasmin Moore, now 18, blames herself for the tragedy.

The Exeter inquest heard from teacher Kathryn Timms, who was accompanying the group on March 4, 2007.

She had been expected to meet the team at a checkpoint, but they arrived ahead of schedule and she was not there.

The youngsters were then confronted by the Walla Brook stream, which was swollen to four times its normal width by rainwater.

Another teacher, Chris Fuller – who had earlier encouraged them to go on, despite their pleas to leave – advised them over the phone to take a detour to avoid it, but the group felt too tired to walk the extra distance.

A passing Scoutmaster tried to help by showing them a better place to cross, but Charlotte fell in while trying to throw Miss Moore's bag over the river.

Yesterday, Ms Timms told the court that she had reported a conversation between herself and Charlotte's friend, Zoe Whitley, who was part of the Ten Tors team, to the school's deputy in September, after the teenager indicated she had been in contact with Charlotte's mother.

In a statement read to the court, Ms Timms said Zoe "felt under pressure" ahead of giving evidence, because she knew that Mrs Wilkin-Shaw wanted to "lay blame".

Under questioning, Ms Timms said: "The grey area is if, and I say if, Zoe had felt pressured from Mrs Wilkin-Shaw, then I felt that there is a problem there – but I never assumed that that was what was happening. All I felt was that it needed raising."

Michael Powers QC, representing Mrs Wilkin-Shaw, accused Ms Timms of lying, putting it to her that she wanted it to appear that witnesses had been pressured, and for Charlotte's death to be seen as an accident "because of your own incompetence" in not being there to meet the team.

Ms Timms invoked her right not to answer questions which could incriminate her, but said she had only reported the conversation because of concerns over her welfare and child protection issues.

The exchange came after Morris Venner, a baker in Westward Ho!, who employs Miss Moore, and used to employ Charlotte, told the hearing that Miss Moore felt "pulled two ways" before giving her evidence last week. Last Monday, the youngster told the inquest that the team had felt "pushed" by teacher Chris Fuller to carry on with the trial run for the Ten Tors, despite extreme weather conditions.

Mr Venner said yesterday: "Yasmin told me that she felt she was being 'pulled two ways' by Jenny, Charlotte's mother, on the one hand, and Mr Fuller on the other.

"Yasmin told me that she believed Charlotte's death was just a tragic accident. She felt very bad, and believed she was to blame, because it was her bag that Charlotte tried to get across the river."

Yasmin felt she was also responsible because she was the one struggling the most, and Charlotte had been trying to encourage her, he said.

Mr Venner's daughter, Katrina, who used to teach at Bideford's Edgehill College – since renamed Kingsley School – when Charlotte was a pupil, said Miss Moore was "worried and frightened" after seeing media reports following her evidence, because she feared getting her teacher into trouble.

She said Yasmin had told the hearing what she believed to be the truth. "She was so scared about it all," she said. "She herself believes it's her fault because it was her bag."

The hearing will hear submissions from legal teams today.