Judge REJECTS Scout leaders' bid after boy, 16, was unlawfully killed on trip

A senior judge has denied a request to overturn the verdict of an inquest, which found that a teenager had been unlawfully killed after he died on a Scout trip.

Ben Leonard, 16, died on August 26, 2018, after he suffered a serious head injury while on a trip with the Reddish Explorer Scouts from Stockport. The injury came after Ben fell about 200ft at Great Orme in Llandudno, North Wales.

Ben and two friends took a different path from other Scouts, unsupervised by any Scout leaders, who had “lost” the trio on the Orme. Ben ended up on a 50cm ledge, which was an animal track. He lost his footing, slipped and fell to his death.

A jury found Ben was unlawfully killed by the most senior Scout leader on the trip, and an assistant Scout leader, and this was contributed to by neglect by The Scout Association. The jury's conclusion followed a two-month inquest last year at Manchester Civil Courts of Justice

The law prevents inquest juries from naming any individual in conclusions.

During the inquest, the Scout leader on the trip, Sean Glaister, declined to answer a series of questions from Ben Richmond KC, lawyer for Fieldfisher, the law firm representing Ben’s family. Mary Carr was named as the assistant Scout leader on the trip.

David Pojur, assistant coroner for North Wales east and central, referred The Scout Association and an employee, who cannot be named by court order, to North Wales Police to investigate for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

After the inquest, Mr Glaister and Ms Carr applied for a judicial review of the inquest findings of unlawful killing, heard at the High Court in Manchester in December.

But on Thursday, Mr Justice Fordham ruled the coroner had directed the jury fairly and correctly and rejected the appeal to review the inquest findings.

Ben’s mother, Jackie Leonard said: “We are just relieved it is now over and the judicial review failed. We need to try to move forward now but with Ben in our hearts always.”

The inquest held last year was the third attempt, after two previous inquests were aborted. At the beginning of last year's inquest, The Scout Association for the first time publicly apologised and accepted responsibility for Ben’s death.

The inquest also heard Ben’s family were lied to as The Scout Association was worried about “reputational damage”, and Ben’s family were told, “people who try and take on the Scouts are never successful” and that “no-one can touch the Scouts”.

Around 500,000 young people and 145,000 adult volunteers take part in Scouting projects and activities each week, according to the association’s own figures.