Council cuts blamed for graveyard tragedy

The death of a young boy who was crushed by a gravestone in a Glasgow cemetery could have been avoided if safety precautions had been taken, a sheriff has ruled.

Ciaran Williamson, aged eight, was killed while playing with friends in Craigton Cemetery on May 16 2015.

A Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) heard a group of five boys were playing a game involving climbing on to a large 1920s memorial, pushing off from the top to the perimeter wall and grabbing the branch of a tree to swing to the ground.

Ciaran had been standing at the base of the memorial, which weighed almost two-and-a-half tons, when it toppled.

The FAI found Glasgow City Council had stopped carrying out routine memorial inspections several years before the accident.

Sheriff Linda Ruxton ruled that if stability checks had been carried out, the memorial would have failed and been declared unsafe leading to a cordon or removal.

In her findings, the sheriff determined a routine inspection of the memorial was a “reasonable precaution whereby Ciaran’s death and the accident that resulted in his death might have been avoided”.

Ciaran’s father, Ryan Williamson, said his son would still be alive if the council “properly maintained the cemetery”.

He added: “The very strong recommendations made by the sheriff are the best outcome we could have hoped for and I would like to thank her for the work she has done.

“It should have never taken the death of my son for this issue to be addressed by the authorities.

“Had Glasgow City Council properly maintained the cemetery Ciaran would still be alive today.”

Eight-year-old Ciaran Williamson who died when the gravestone toppled.