THE MOTHER of a teenager who died after falling on the Great Orme has paid tribute to her “amazing, thoughtful, and extremely kind” son.

The inquest into the death of 16-year-old Benjamin Leonard, who died on the Great Orme in August 2018, opened yesterday (January 4).

As evidence was given yesterday, representatives of The Scout Association issued an apology to the Leonard family, accepting full responsibility and fault for Ben’s death.

The boy’s mother, Jackie Leonard, gave a heartfelt tribute to her son, who had been with the scouts since the age of five.

She spoke of Ben’s love of literature and film, and of writing and reading, which extended to producing his own screenplays.

“He was a very avid reader of everything and a massive film buff – from a young age, he loved stories and loved books,” Mrs Leonard told the court.

“He took Oscar Wilde books on holiday and his creative writing was unbelievable, when he was 14 a teacher said he had the creative writing ability of a university student.

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“At 15, he entered a comedy sketch competition through school and came in the top 15 in the country.”

This love of reading and writing lead to Ben enrolling at UTC Media City in Salford, having received his GCSE results just days before the trip to the Great Orme.

Mrs Leonard said Ben and his younger brother Thomas, whom she said were “very close”, aspired to collaborate on a script one day – with Ben writing it and Thomas acting.

She said: “At the time of his death, he had written three books on his laptop at the same time and had even written a screenplay.

“He was always in the library, and looked after all the books, it was like it was his library.

“He was just amazing – he was articulate, extremely kind, thoughtful, very funny, extremely witty, determined.”

She said Ben’s death was not just felt by his immediate family, but by grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

Regarding her relationship with her son, she said they both “loved Disney films”, adding that Ben would always accompany her to the cinema regardless of what was on.

The second day of the inquest into Benjamin Leonard's death will take place in Manchester today (January 5).