A SCOUT leader who was on a trip of the Great Orme when a teenager fell to his death said he was unaware the boy had an operation shortly before the trip which affected his ability to walk comfortably, an inquest heard.
Ben Leonard, 16, of Stockport, suffered fatal head injuries when he fell about 200ft after slipping from the Great Orme in Llandudno while on an Explorer Scouts trip on August 26, 2018.
At today’s (February 6) hearing of the full inquest into his death, held at Manchester Civil Justice Centre, Sean Glaister, the most senior of the three leaders on the trip, said he knew Ben had underwent a procedure, but not that it was a circumcision.
READ MORE:
Scout leader ‘carries teenager’s Great Orme death with her every day’
Family lied to, risk assessments not done, Scout death inquest hears
Scout leader on fatal Llandudno trip declines to answer questions
The inquest heard that Ben found himself near the cliff edge in Llandudno as he was trying to find his way back down the Orme due to his discomfort while walking.
None of the leaders on the trip - Sean Glaister, Gareth Williams and Mary Carr – were suitably qualified first aiders, a breach of Scout rules.
Mr Glaister said he noticed Ben “wasn’t walking as freely as normal” when the group met prior to the trip on August 22.
He said he asked on that day if he was OK, but added: “I just thought he’d had an operation, and for some reason, didn’t want to tell me about it.
“Knowing Ben, I thought he’d tell me straight away. I don’t understand why he didn’t.
“Him saying he was OK for the trip put my mind at ease that he would be OK.”
Mr Glaister said he did not consult Ben’s parents after their conversation about his apparent discomfort on August 22.
At the time Ben fell, he was also unaccompanied by any of the three leaders, nor did he have a “route card”, directing him where to walk on the Orme.
On the day prior to his death, after a hike of Yr Wyddfa, Ben had also asked not to walk it again the following day – as was the original plan before adverse weather – due to his discomfort.
Brian Garraway, a group Scout leader who was a qualified first aider, was believed by some to also be going on the trip, but did not.
Mr Glaister, who yesterday declined to answer some questions put to him, added: “I think the three of us were adequate for the amount of children in the group.
“They would have the capability to walk by themselves… three leaders should be adequate for where we were going.”
Asked how, if three leaders were adequate, did Ben and two other Scouts find themselves alone on the Orme, Mr Glaister said: “We do allow Explorers to wander by themselves.
“When they get to a certain age, there’s a certain amount of independence, where they can do a lot of things without a leader being present.”
Mr Glaister added that he took a first aid kit with him on the trip, but that it was left in his car during the approximately 40-minute walk of the Orme.
He said he felt that, should one be needed, such apparatus would be available at the nearby Llandudno Ski and Snowboard Centre or Grand Hotel.
Ms Carr, who last week told the inquest she was “floored” by Ben’s death, was also aware of his discomfort during the trip, but not that he had been circumcised, Mr Glaister said.
On Ben’s reluctance to walk up Yr Wyddfa again, Mr Glaister said: “All he said to me was: ‘I don’t think I want to do Yr Wyddfa’; he felt he wouldn’t keep up.
“I was trying to give him every opportunity to go on it. I didn’t want to pressurise him into doing something he didn’t want to do. I wanted the decision to come from him about what he wanted.
“I don’t think I was hiding information from anybody.”
The Scout Association’s Policy, Organisation and Rules (POR), meanwhile, was not checked by Mr Glaister when he planned the trip, he said.
Bernard Richmond KC, representing Ben’s family, referred to guidelines set out in this document during his questioning of Mr Glaister.
When he asked him why, contrary to POR, adequate risk assessments were not carried out before and during the trip, Mr Glaister said this was not emphasised to him during his training.
POR also states that: “All groups undertaking a ‘nights away’ event must have immediate access to someone who has a current first aid qualification, minimum first response.”
“You’d broken that rule about three times, hadn’t you?” Mr Richmond told him.
“There was no validated first aider present in your (Scout) hut.”
Mr Richmond then asked Mr Glaister how soon after Ben’s death was his “nights away” permit suspended by The Scout Association, to which he answered: “It wasn’t.”
The inquest, the third into Ben’s death, continues tomorrow.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article