Coroner considering whether Scout Association misled inquest into tragic sea death
ACOUNTY’S top coroner is considering whether the Scout Association misled an inquest following the death of a teenager.
The move comes after a coroner in north Wales found the organisation misled a jury during the inquest into the death of Ben Leonard.
The 16-year-old was on a trip with the Reddish Explorer Scouts on August 26, 2018, when he fell 200ft off a cliff edge in Llandudno.
An inquest, which began on January 4 this year, heard his family were lied to, with suggestions the ‘approach’ initially taken by The Scout Association was to blame the boy for the tragedy amid worries over ‘reputational damage’ to the organisation.
After a jury ruled that Ben died as a result of unlawful killing, contributed to by neglect by The Scouts Association, David Pojur, assistant coroner for North Wales East and Central, has referred the case to North Wales Police to investigate it and an employee, who cannot be named for legal reasons, over allegations of perverting the course of justice.
The jury heard suggestions that
Sean Glaister, the most senior Scout leader on the trip, believed another man, Brian Garraway, group Scout leader, was also going on the trip, only to discover he was not present when he got to their campsite in Snowdonia.
It meant no suitably qualified first aider was present, which broke Scout rules for expeditions. No formal written risk assessment was done before the Scouts ventured out onto the Orme.
Mr Glaister said he had not warned any of the Scouts, including Ben, not to leave the paths up the Orme and he was not aware of the dangers of the cliff edges.
He agreed the Scout Association never monitored his activities or ensured any training he was supposed to undergo had ever been done.
Mr Glaister declined to answer a series of questions from a lawyer representing Ben’s family during the inquest after the coroner warned him he did not have to answer some questions if the answer was to incriminate himself.
The North Wales coroner has also made a formal Prevention of Future Deaths report and copied in Lancashire’s Senior Coroner Dr James Adeley. Dr Adeley has confirmed to LancsLive that he was copied in because, having been made aware of the circumstances and concerns surrounding Ben’s death, he is considering whether his office was also misled by the Scout Association during an inquest into the death of Jack Saunders.
NorthWalesLive reported at the time that Jack had travelled to Blackpool in October 2009 as part of a group of 15 teenagers from Wrexham. The 18-year-old drowned after getting into difficulty in the sea.
A huge air and sea rescue had been launched when Jack was swept away by a wave but he could not be found and his body was washed up on the beach at Starr Gate two days later.
The deaths of two other boys who were under the care of the Scouts at the time they died, Alan Locke from London and Roy Holland, are also being re-examined.
In addition, the Welsh coroner has called for a public inquiry to be held. He said in his report to Gillian Keegan, the Secretary of State for Education: “The lives of young people are being put at risk by The Scouts Association’s failure to recognise the inadequacies of their operational practice and the part this has played in the death of Ben.”
A spokesman for the Scout Association said: “We are closely reviewing the recommendations from the coroner and will be adopting all further changes we can, on top of those already implemented, to do everything in our power to stop such an event happening again.
“We are committed to providing our formal response to the Coroner by April 18.”