A jury has found that an explorer scout leader and his assistant were responsible for the unlawful killing of a teenage scout in north Wales. The inquest also found that neglect on behalf of The Scout Association contributed to the death. Ben Leonard, 16, was among a group visiting Llandudno’s Great Orme in August 2018. The Scout Association “emphatically” refuted allegations of criminal action on its behalf. It also said it would review the coroner’s observations.
The jury heard evidence during the seven-week inquest that there had been no written risk assessment carried out for the summer camping trip to the Eryri national park. The court heard there was also no on-the-day risk assessments carried out for the trip up the Great Orme headland, and no discussion about safety with the Explorer Scouts by their group leader Sean Glaister or assistant leader Mary Carr. There was no Scout accredited first-aider on the trip, after a senior leader failed to attend the event.
It led to questions in the court about whether the trip should have been authorised in the first place. The Scouts said in a statement that they take the conclusion of the inquest extremely seriously and restated its “wholehearted apology” to Ben’s family. “Keeping young people safe from harm remains our number one priority at Scouts,” they added.
Ben, from Stockport, Greater Manchester, was taking part in a trip to the Eryri national park to camp, with plans to hike up Yr Wyddfa – also known as Snowdon. Plans were changed due to the weather, and the scout group were taken to Llandudno in Conwy county borough, to walk up the Orme. Ben and two other boys had broken away from the main hike and taken their own unsupervised route up the hillside. He slipped off a narrow cliff edge and fell 200ft (60m), suffering fatal head injuries.
The Scout Association has also been referred to North Wales Police over whether there was a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice in the first inquest into Ben’s death. The organisation said it will review the coroner’s observations and adopt all further changes it can, to do everything in its power to stop such a tragic event happening again
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