by NICK McDERMOTT - 6th October 2007

These are the two Police Community Support Officers who stood by as ten-year- old Jordon Lyon drowned in a pond.

Andrew Furnival and Helene Weatherburn apparently looked on as other bystanders tried to save the child, who had disappeared beneath the surface.

By the time a regular police officer arrived, it was too late to save Jordon.

It later emerged the 'Blunkett's Bobbies' had been ordered by their control room not to attempt a rescue - because they did not have the right training.

Too dangerous: Andrew Furnival, 24, and Helene Weatherburn, 20, were told not to enter the pond

It's emerged that witnesses testified the pair 'just stood there' when a fisherman pointed to the spot in the pond where the youngster had vanished.

Miss Weatherburn, 20, from Bolton, was newly qualified, and was working alongside 24-year-old Mr Furnival, from Hindley, Wigan.

Tragic: Ten-year-old Jordon Lyon

She was 19 when the incident happened at the John Pit pond in Wigan in May this year, having left school - where she was known as a sporty pupil - only last year.

The conduct of the pair caused a national outcry against the limitations of the PCSO scheme.

In a witness statement leaked to The Daily Telegraph, angler John Collinson told the inquest: 'Two community police officers, a man and a woman, arrived on bikes.

'They asked where the boy was and I pointed to the area of the pond but they did not go into the pond. The water was black. The community police officers just stood there.' PCSOs receive as little as three weeks' training, compared with 18 for regular police officers.

Following the inquest into Jordon's death, his grieving mother, Tracy Ganderton, branded PCSOs 'plastic bobbies' and called for them be scrapped.

Her angry words added to the growing condemnation of the PCSOs, introduced by David Blunkett in 2002 to help regular officers tackle minor incidents.

A Home Office report has admitted there is 'limited evidence' that the 14,000 officers recruited for the system have had any impact on crime or anti-social behaviour.