A high court judge has rejected an attempt by a scout leader and an assistant to overturn the findings of an inquest jury that concluded they were responsible for the unlawful killing of a 16-year-old boy who fell from a cliff during an expedition.
Ben Leonard from Stockport, Greater Manchester, became separated from his group during a hike in north Wales and fell about 60m (200ft) from a ledge, suffering a fatal head injury.
At the end of a 32-day inquest in Manchester in February 2024, the jury reached a unanimous conclusion of unlawful killing by the scout leader Sean Glaister and the assistant leader Mary Carr, contributed to by the neglect of the Scouts Association.
Ben’s parents, Jackie and David Leonard, were dismayed when the two leaders launched a judicial review. They expressed relief on Thursday when the judge, Mr Justice Fordham, said the jury had been entitled to conclude Ben had been unlawfully killed.
Fordham said: “Unlawful killing is a proper conclusion for a jury to reach, where that conclusion is justified on the evidence.” He continued: “The inquest is entitled to get to the bottom of the facts. There is a responsibility, and a public interest, in ensuring that the relevant facts are fully, fairly and fearlessly investigated and exposed to public scrutiny.”
The Leonards said: “We are 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 family has spent almost 50 days in court trying to get to the truth of what happened to their son. “It’s been a horrendously gruelling process up against a huge organisation,” they said.
During the judicial review, heard in Manchester, barristers for Glaister and Carr argued that the coroner, David Pojur, had been wrong in law to allow the jury to consider the unlawful killing conclusion as there was no evidence they knew Ben was going near to the cliff at any time when they could have intervened.
But the judge disagreed, ruling a “possible view of the facts” was that Glaister knew about the steep cliffs and false paths at the Great Orme, near Llandudno, where the tragedy happened. Fordham said: “He had the opportunity to give instructions. He had the opportunity to halt the walk.”
Fordham also said a “possible view of the facts” in relation to Carr was that she knew there were steep cliffs and “was unconcerned about what direction they [Ben and others] were heading in”.
The judge also highlighted evidence heard during the inquest in which a vicar claimed that Carr had told her “it’s all part of God’s plan” when talking about the tragedy. Carr denied saying this.
Ben died while on a trip with the Reddish explorer scouts on 26 August 2018. He and two friends took a different path from other scouts, unsupervised by any leaders. He ended up on a ledge that was 50cm (20in) wide when he lost his footing, slipped and fell.
In a preventing future deaths report published after the inquest, the coroner expressed concern about the scouts. He said: “The evidence I have heard leads me to a concern as to a general reluctance by the Scouts Association to engage in a meaningful learning exercise to prevent a recurrence of the issues pertaining to Ben’s death.”
The Scout Association said: “The safety and wellbeing of young people in our care is the number one priority. We did not ask for the judicial review that took place or pay for the legal fees of the leaders who sought the judicial review. We remain firmly committed to the actions we set out in our response to the coroner’s preventing future deaths report. We have already made a significant number of changes to improve our safety policies and procedures.”
