.jpg "The Explorer Scout fell 80m on the Great Orme, Llandudno. Photo: Nilfanion CC-BY-SA-3.0")
The Explorer Scout fell 80m on the Great Orme, Llandudno. Photo: Nilfanion CC-BY-SA-3.0
An Explorer Scout who fell to his death in north Wales was unlawfully killed, an inquest jury found.
Neglect by the Scout Association also contributed to Ben Leonard’s death on the Great Orme near Llandudno in August 2018.
The 16-year-old from Reddish, Greater Manchester was with a group who undertook a walk on the headland. He slipped from a narrow track and fell 60m down a crag face, sustaining fatal head injuries.
Ben and two other group members had left the main group and were not closely supervised by leaders Sean Glaister and Mary Carr when the incident happened.
At the conclusion of the seven-week inquest at Manchester Civil Justice Centre, assistant coroner for North Wales East and Central David Pojur eased restrictions to allow the reporting of the fact he has referred the Scout Association and an employee to North Wales Police to investigate for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Lawyers acting for the Scout Association and other individuals applied to extend indefinitely the initial ban on reporting of the police referral. The BBC, PA and the North Wales Pioneer successfully applied against the ban.
The jury found that two leaders were responsible for Ben’s unlawful death, with the national association contributing to the death.
The group originally planned an ascent of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) but leaders changed plans due to bad weather. The jury heard no written risk assessment was carried out for the camping trip to the Eryri (Snowdonia) national park.
Neither did leaders undertake a risk assessment on the day of the visit to the Great Orme. The peninsula rises to a height of 207m, with sea cliffs and limestone crags surrounding its plateau. The court heard the leaders did not conduct a safety discussion with the Explorer Scouts. Another leader who had been due to join the group on the camping trip did not come, meaning there was no leader with an appropriate first-aid qualification.
The Scout Association operates an adventurous activities permit scheme, with hillwalking routes classified in three categories: terrain zero, terrain one and terrain two, the last two requiring leaders to hold the appropriate authorisation for ventures in areas designated as such.
At an aborted first inquest in February 2020, Mr Pojur issued a prevention of future deaths report.
Mr Pojur said he will be issuing a new 39-point prevention of future deaths report to various bodies and individuals, who must respond within 56 days. The Scout Association’s chief executive Matt Hyde and the charity’s insurers are among those who will receive the report.
North Wales Police said it was reviewing details of the referral for potential conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
In a statement, Jennie Price, chair of the Scout Association board of trustees, said: “We take today’s conclusion extremely seriously.
“We want to restate our wholehearted apology to Ben Leonard’s family and our deepest sympathies continue to be with his family and friends.
“As an organisation we are committed to learning. The jury heard how in this instance the local leaders did not follow our safety rules and processes. As a result of Ben’s tragic death in 2018, we have already made many changes to our risk assessments, safety rules, training and support we give our volunteers.
“We will closely review the coroner’s observations and adopt all further changes we can, to do everything in our power to stop such a tragic event happening again.
“Keeping young people safe from harm remains our number one priority at Scouts.
“We emphatically refute allegations made in court about any criminal action on behalf of the Scout Association.”
- Bob Smith is an associate member of the Scout Association, with authorisation to supervise groups in terrain one and terrain two. He is also a qualified Mountain Leader and Hill and Moorland Leader.
Wise old owl
24 February 2024As an ex leader - with the same permits as the editor of this story - it's unfathomable why anyone would today volunteer to be a scout leader.
The scout association has become obsessed with box ticking. There's no common sense anymore. I know of leaders who have fulfilled their training, got the certificate and are ' qualified ' to take young people to high and remote places. I wouldn't trust them with my cat.
A few years back they started a policy of youth led scouting - for all the right reasons. However, you have adults in senior position with no life experience. They've probably never had children; they've probably not had to deal with awkward leaders and parents in their careers. They just don't have the skills - and yet it's this type of person who is ultimately signing off the activities.
Get back to basics - encourage those with experience to remain in the organisation and carefully manage those who perhaps need to learn a bit more.
Appalled old Owl
25 February 2024As another ex-Scout leader (25+ years ago) I held qualifications in Kayaking (BCU/WCA Senior Instructor), sailing, (RYA Instructor), and Scout Mountain Leadership qualifications. To support these, I held (and had to renew regularly) a first aid certificate and lifesaving qualification. I also had a full time job, and spent about 30 hours a week working with Scouts. I was a volunteer for this - payment for all my time came out of my own pocket.
Scouting was a very expensive hobby, as it still is for most leaders.
Working with children was a huge reward. And in spite of all the training, kids (mainly boys at that time) still did things and accidents happened, and we occasionally had to take kids to hospital. And in spite of this, I'm pretty sure that our parents had the attitude of "kids will be kids" and "accidents happen".
But now? Obviously this event is a tragedy, and I'm sure that the leaders involved feel that too, but this ruling makes it sound like those leaders actually pushed Ben to his death.
And the reports that I've found so far, after an inquest lasting TWO MONTHS, seem to mainly consist of people (generally police), stating as a fact, that a risk assessment would have saved Ben's life.
I'm at the other end of the country from the Great Orme, but I'm still on the Welsh Coastal Path - much of which runs along unfenced clifftop edges.
From what I can see, the Great Orme has a visitor's centre, and a dry ski slope. There's even a children's play centre at the cafe.
Yet apparently, a risk assessment needs to be done to visit this area. How many parents take their children up there without doing this? Why has the council not fenced it all off, and put warning signs everywhere?
I wonder if the assistant coroner, Mr Pojur, has considered in his risk assessment, that this ruling may cause the resignation of thousands of Scout leaders, and the closure of almost every scout group in the country?
I know that I wouldn't serve in this climate! And I certainly wouldn't recommend Scouting to anybody looking to a way to "give back" to the country.
Mountain Rambler
25 February 2024The benefits of introducing young people to mountain environments are extensive, encompassing physical and mental well-being, the acquisition of practical skills, and personal and social development. It is essential to acknowledge the associated risks, but it is crucial to strike a balance that ensures the benefits are neither minimized nor overlooked, and the inherent capabilities of young individuals to manage these risks are not underestimated.
I believe that young people require both protection and opportunities. However, there is a genuine concern that misinterpretations of risk may lead to an array of restrictions aimed at shielding them, whether imposed by overzealous parents, governing policies, or those responsible for risk assessment. Such an approach inadvertently hampers young people from encountering and learning to manage risks, preventing them from grasping the essential skill of evaluating and responding to challenges. Society’s prevention of such experiences ultimately hinders young people from developing a genuine understanding of risk.
Old Fashioned Bloke
25 February 2024@Wise old owl
You are completely correct and I find it really sad that your common sense approach would be viewed as old fashioned and therefore worthless in today's world.
Looking back over the years I find it impossible to pinpoint how or when things in general got into the utter mess it seems to be in these days.
ESL & DESC
08 March 2024@wise old owl - As a current scout leader with a hillwalking permit, I respectfully disagree on the risk assessment.
We are trusted with other people's children, and we have a responsibility to take care of them. We need to be aware of the risks and what we can do to realistically manage them.
That means we need to consider everything we do, and what we can do to reduce the chances of something going wrong, and to minimise the impact should it go wrong.
Would it have made a difference? maybe not, but it just might if they had considered group separation a little more carefully, or if they had been aware of the risk of a fall and briefed the group better.
ESL & DESC
08 March 2024@Appaled old owl - As a current scout leader with a hillwalking permit, I respectfully disagree on the risk assessment.
We are trusted with other people's children, and we have a responsibility to take care of them. We need to be aware of the risks and what we can do to realistically manage them.
That means we need to consider everything we do, and what we can do to reduce the chances of something going wrong, and to minimise the impact should it go wrong.
Would it have made a difference? maybe not, but it just might if they had considered group separation a little more carefully, or if they had been aware of the risk of a fall and briefed the group better.
ABC & 123
11 March 2024@ESL & DESC.... You've just proven the point that the original posters were making.
The scout association needs to get away from box ticking exercises and concentrate more on the quality of volunteers (maturity, experience) that have responsibility for such events.
As a DESC you will have oversight over many different Risk Assessments from many different groups. The quality of those assessments will vary greatly; how many of them have been downloaded from 3rd party sites and then ignored? How many are created and then never looked at again? How many are to the level required? How many have too much detail? These are rhetorical questions.
The process of having risk assessments approved by a DESC or DC is also a complete waste of time.
I'm surprised to see you are both an ESL and a DESC too. Surely that is some sort of conflict of interest.
Have a look up and down the country. Adults are leaving in droves due to poor management from both the national body and also at a local district and county level.
It's no good starting up new sections (Squirrels) when they cannot manage the older sections. The whole thing has just become a toddlers playgroup - without the profit.