Work on wall that crushed Keane ‘was a low priority’
Head tells school death inquiry pupils did not raise concerns
A WALL that collapsed on a schoolgirl and killed her was “bottom of the list” for renovations, a headteacher told a fatal accident inquiry yesterday.
Four teachers denied claims that pupils warned them the wall was unsafe before the tragedy.
Keane Wallis-Bennett, 12, died when the modesty wall in changing rooms at the old PE department at Liberton High, Edinburgh, fell in April 2014.
The inquiry is being held at the city’s sheriff court.
Headteacher Stephen Kelly told the court the school had been allocated £280,000 by the city council for work to be done on toilets, flooring and painting. When all the contracts came in, they had a surplus of £85,000.
Kelly said: “The whole school had to be decorated and we asked pupils and teachers to prioritise what should be done and the modesty walls were at the bottom of the list.”
He said there had been no mention of problems with the walls and action would have been taken if there had been.
The court heard a pupil told police she had spoken to Ian Hutchison, the then head of PE, after the wall had moved when she leaned on it.
But Hutchison, who was moving to another school, told the court she did not.
Two other girls told police they had raised concerns with Hutchison.
He denied a suggestion from advocate Gavin Anderson, for Keane’s parents, that he was “no longer interested in Liberton High School and considered it was someone else’s problem” because he was leaving.
Two other PE teachers, Mhairi Henderson and Connal Low, also denied that any pupil had reported the wall moving.
The inquiry continues.