THE father of Emily Jordan, of Trimpley, who drowned during a river boarding trip in New Zealand in 2008, paid tribute to his happy, compassionate daughter at her inquest.

The inquest comes three years after her death, due to court proceedings to fine the extreme sports company about £30,000, which Mr Jordan called "an insult to my daughter and us as a family".

Miss Jordan was on an around-the-world trip with her boyfriend, Jonathan Armour during a gap year after graduating with a first degree in law from Swansea University.

They were on an excursion with the Mad Dog River Boarding Company on April 29, 2008 on the Kawarau River in Queenstown, when Miss Jordan became trapped between submerged rocks for about 20 minutes and attempts to resuscitate her failed.

Speaking at her inquest, which opened today in Smethwick, Mr Jordan said: "From a very young age she was a very happy and caring child."

He added: "We always said Emily had a very old head on young shoulders." He said she became a great sister to her younger sister and older brother, who had learning difficulties.

He described her as very fiercely protective of her siblings and the strong one of the group, always standing up for them.

He added: "Emily was an exceptionally bright and talented girl. She excelled academically at a whole range of subjects. She was also a very sporty sort of girl, who liked swimming and netball and then she progressed on to lacrosse....she was able to balance that with compassion for others, she had a lot of care for other people."

Mr Jordan said his daughter was always involved in water from an early age. She was on her school swimming team and accompanied her father on off-shore sailing, dinghy and catamaran trips.

She was a qualified scuba diver who enjoyed water skiing and wind surfing. He said: "She was excellent company - my right hand man, there's no doubt about that. She was a natural in water. She was naturally a strong girl. She wasn't the panicking type. She wouldn't have panicked, I am sure.

“She was a very balanced girl and would have worked very hard to get have got herself out of the position which we believe she shouldn't have been in at all."

Following Miss Jordan's death the Mad Dog River Boarding Company was fined after being found guilty of two Health and Safety in Employment charges.

Mr Jordan said: "If Emily had been wearing a a life jacket with more buoyancy there's a high chance she wouldn't have been able to get a metre under the water and become trapped."

He also pointed out the floatation device had no crotch strap to secure it to her body and no caribina to attach her to something to pull her out.

Mr Jordan wrote to New Zealand's Prime Minister and a review of the country's adventure tourism was called.

Mr Jordan said: "Our young adults go there thinking it's good fun and the culture is the same as this country when it comes to health and safety and it's important to stress that some of these are very dangerous activities and they need to have an understanding that it is dangerous stuff."

The inquest will resume tomorrow when all evidence will be summed up.