THE Scout Association could face a police investigation following the death of a teen boy who plunged 200ft from a cliff while on a trip.
Ben Leonard, 16, was on the expedition in North Wales in August 2018 when the horror unfolded.
Ben Leonard fell 200ft to his death
He slipped from a cliff edge in Great Orme in Llandudno
The group had set off from Stockport to complete a hike up Snowdon but their plans were abandoned due to bad weather.
They instead planned to walk the Great Orme but Ben and two pals became separated from the rest of their group.
An inquest into the boy’s death has heard the trio were unsupervised at the time by any Reddish Scout leaders.
A coroner has now referred the Scout Association and one of its employees to North Wales Police for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
This is in relation to a first inquest in 2020 that was abandoned for unrelated legal reasons.
It comes after an inquest jury found Ben was unlawfully killed and that a Scout leader and his assistant were responsible for his death.
They also found neglect on behalf of the Scout Association contributed to his death.
Ben was attempting to traverse a wet cliff edge “about 30 to 40 metres away” from his pals when he slipped.
Tragically, there was no suitably qualified first aider on the expedition and the teen later died from massive head injuries.
The Scout Association previously publicly apologised for the first time and accepted responsibility for Ben’s death.
But the teen’s mum Jackie Leonard said: “It’s five-and-a-half years too late. That’s all we wanted from the beginning.”
She also wept as she paid tribute to her “thoughtful, very funny, extremely witty” son, who was planning to study TV and film at college.
The inquest was told no written risk assessment was carried out for the trip.
Scouts tragedy – the other deaths linked to the group
Ben Leonard is one of a dozen Scouts, both adults and children, to die during various activities over the past 30 years.
They are:
1993
– Adult Venture scout Andrew Hindley, 23, from Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, fell 2,000ft down Jungfrau, Switzerland in June 1993. Inquest verdict unknown.
1995
– Lee Craddock, 11, from Blackpool, fell 360ft while at Britain’s deepest pothole, Gaping Ghyll in North Yorkshire in July 1995. Lee’s parents later sued The Scout Association.
1997
– Scott Fanning, 11, fell 60ft down a ravine at Ashworth Valley, near Rochdale during a Scout camp in May 1997. Inquest verdict: Accidental death.
– Jack Sudds, eight, from Eltham, south London, drowned in a swimming pool at a Scout camp in Crowborough, East Sussex, in November 1997. Inquest verdict: Misadventure.
1999
– Roy Thornton, 15, from Wembley, London, died in the Alps after slipping and falling in August 1999. Inquest verdict: Accidental death.
– Jonathan Attwell, 10, from Bristol, who fell 600ft to his death on his first outdoor Scout trip to Snowdon, North Wales in October 1999. Inquest verdict: Accidental death.
– Christopher Oliver, 35, a Scout leader from Devizes, Wiltshire, fell 100ft while on Cader Idris, a peak in Snowdonia, a week after Jonathan Attwell’s death. Inquest verdict: Misadventure.
2000
– Jamie Chambers, 15, from Claughton, Wirral died after being hit by boulders on Little Tryfan, a spur of Snowdon on October 22 2000. Inquest verdict: Misadventure.
2009
– Alan Lock, six, from Acton, Suffolk, drowned after falling into the River Stour, near Sudbury, Suffolk, while on a Beaver Scout trip in June 2009. Inquest verdict: Open.
2010
– Scout leader Stephen Young, 18, from Borough Green, near Sevenoaks, Kent, died when he fell through a snow shelf on Creag Meagaidh in the Scottish Highlands in February 2010. Inquest verdict not known.
2014
– Elliot Peacock, 14, from Newton Mearns, Scotland, died during a gorge scrambling expedition with the Scouts in Italy in June 2014. Inquest verdict unknown.
2017
– Ben Leonard, 16, from Stockport, Greater Manchester, died after falling 200ft on the Great Orme in North Wales in August 2017. Inquest verdict: Unlawfully killed.
There was also no on-the-day risk assessments carried out for the trip up and no discussion about safety with the Explorer Scouts by their group leader Sean Glaister or assistant leader Mary Carr.
The inquest was the third to take place after two previous attempts were aborted.
Jackie said the “defensive” Scouts had failed to apologise before and made out her film buff son was a “wild child”.
When asked how her family had been treated, the mum added: “Disgusting. Like we didn’t matter and like Ben didn’t matter.”
The Scouts Association has apologised over Ben’s death
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