Scout’s Great Orme death was ‘tragedy that could have been avoided’

Ben Leonard, 16, of Stockport, suffered fatal head injuries when he fell about 200ft after slipping in Llandudno on August 26, 2018.

At today’s (February 15) hearing of the full inquest into his death, held at Manchester Civil Justice Centre, expert witness Mike Rosser said that Ben’s death was a “tragedy that could have been avoided”.

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Mr Rosser, an expert in mountaineering, had compiled his own report into the circumstances surrounding Ben’s death prior to giving evidence today.

He said he did not believe parents of the Scouts on the trip were given sufficient information about it, and that a “failure of planning processes” had been exhibited.

The inquest had previously heard that none of the leaders on the trip - Sean Glaister, Gareth Williams and Mary Carr – were suitably qualified first aiders, constituting a breach of Scout rules.

Brian Garraway, a group Scout leader who was a qualified first aider, was believed by some to also be going on the trip, but did not.

Last week, Mr Glaister told the inquest that he knew Ben had undergone an operation shortly before the trip, but not that it was a circumcision that ultimately caused him discomfort while walking.

Ben Leonard (Image: Family handout)

Mr Glaister did not follow up his initial conversation with Ben on August 22 by talking to his parents, which Mr Rosser said was an oversight.

Mr Rosser also said that the actions of the leaders showed that hazards were not identified on this particular walk.

These included the absence of adequate risk assessments being carried out, the group not setting off as one, confusion as to whether Ben and two others were with Mr Williams, and that Mr Glaister “seemed to have played little or no part in the planning, or indeed the walk”.

Mr Rosser added that he felt The Scout Association had failed in its duty of care to the youngsters on the trip, when in a position of “loco parentis”.

As no suitable risk assessment of the walk and surrounding terrain had been completed, he said that there was “no understanding that allowing Ben’s group to walk out of sight, without knowing where they were walking, was a significant risk to their safety”.

Bernard Richmond KC, representing Ben’s family, presented an “A4 page of six directions” which he suggested could have been given to the Scouts on the trip.

These directions were as follows:

• There are cliffs. Do not go near the edge.
• There are tarmacked paths. Stay on them.
• Keep together, make sure you can see a leader at all times, and if you can’t keep up, tell someone.
• Don’t go on grassy areas; they can lead onto dangerous areas very quickly.
• Don’t use paths which are not tarmacked; they’re not necessarily safe.
• If you get lost, stay put, and call a leader with a phone number given.

“Collectively, those 18 lines, in my big handwriting, that’s all it really took for them,” Mr Richmond said.

“Getting to know the answers to those questions would be the absolute basic risk assessment.”

Manchester Civil Justice Centre (Image: Newsquest)

Mr Rosser agreed that, if those six pieces of advice had been communicated to and followed by the Scouts, Ben would not have died.

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DS Paul Terry, of North Wales Police, was the first officer on the scene after the force was alerted to the incident which led to Ben’s death.

He felt the threshold had not been met to issue criminal charges of gross negligence manslaughter in relation to Ben’s death, a position he maintains following new information arising from the inquest.

“The most fundamental expectation is that a child, while in loco parentis, will be cared for and looked after, as if in the care of their own parents or guardians,” he said.

“Ben found himself in a location and situation that he shouldn’t have been in, and it was left to him to take a judgement on that situation, which he was not equipped for.

“There was no adult there to use their authority and experience to stop him from what he then did; he didn’t know that he didn’t have a chance to find a reasonable way down.”

DS Terry added that there were “missed opportunities” to prevent Ben’s death, saying: “I’m sad to hear that some of the evidence shows that failings were really quite grave”.

Samantha Booth, then area growth and development manager of The Scout Association, was the organisation’s on-call critical incident manager on the day that Ben died.

Earlier in the inquest, a friend of Ben’s had claimed there was a lack of support offered by The Scout Association in the aftermath of his death.

Ms Booth said she felt she did “as I much as I possibly could” in that regard, including explaining that “grief has a natural cycle”, enquiring about counselling and encouraging those affected by Ben’s death to initially see their GP.

But she admitted that The Scout Association could “potentially” have done more in terms of emotional support.

“I’m very disheartened and sad to hear that my work didn’t reach the standard it needed to,” she said.

“After what I’ve heard today, we obviously didn’t get it right.”

The inquest, the third into Ben’s death, began six weeks ago and is due to conclude next week.