Our boys went on Scout expeditions and never came home: Families of youngsters who fell to their deaths while on camping trips demand answers from the leaders they trusted to look after them

The parents of children who tragically died while on Scout trips are calling for a public inquiry into the association, following the death of a 16-year-old boy who plunged 200ft to his death during a botched expedition.

Ben Leonard slipped and fell from a rocky ledge while trying to find an ‘easier way down’ during an unplanned hike on the Great Orme in North Wales in 2018.

He and two friends had become ‘lost’ by the three scout leaders on the trip after the adults failed to warn them of the dangers of going near cliff edges, an inquest into the tragedy heard.

Following a two-month inquest at Manchester Civil Courts of Justice, a jury found a scout leader and his assistant were responsible for the unlawful killing of Ben, and this was contributed to by neglect by The Scout Association.

But Ben isn’t the only child to die while on a Scout expedition. There have been 17 deaths on the trips since 1995, according to The Times.

Now, his mother has teamed up with other grieving parents to call for a public inquiry into whether the association has the appropriate safeguarding measures in place and for the Scouts to be regulated externally.

Ben was on a trip with the Reddish Explorer Scouts from Stockport, Greater Manchester, when he sustained a fatal head injury falling from the beauty spot near Llandudno on August 26 2018.

Ben joined the Beavers aged five and was an avid reader and film buff who planned to study TV and film at college.

His mother Jackie, 54, described him as a ‘thoughtful, very funny, extremely witty’ boy, and claimed the Scout Association tried to portray him as a ‘wild child’, taking a ‘defensive’ attitude and until their apology never accepting being at fault.

The inquest into his death heard Ben’s family were lied to as the Scout Association was worried about ‘reputational damage’.

It heard Ben’s family were told that ‘people who try and take on the Scouts are never successful’ and that ‘no-one can touch the Scouts’ – despite it being apparent from the day of Ben’s death that things had gone ‘horribly wrong’.

The latest inquest heard that Ben and fellow scouts Christopher Gilbert and Alex Jamieson – who had not been given a map or warned about cliffs – became separated from the rest of the party.

One of the three scout leaders, Gareth Williams, was telephoned by a second, Mary Carr, who was ahead of him, asking if he could see Ben and his two friends.

He said he told her: ‘No, I thought they’d be with you.’

Mr Williams then called Sean Glaister, the most senior scout leader on the trip, who then called one of the boys’ mobiles, but they did not pick up so he left a voicemail.

Meanwhile Ben had left his friends – who were trying to head to a café – saying it would be ‘much quicker’ to go another way, the hearing was told.

The inquest jury heard suggestions that Mr Glaister had believed another man, Brian Garraway, group Scout leader, was also going on the trip, only to discover he was not present when he got to their campsite in Snowdonia.

It meant no suitably qualified first aider was present for the trip to the Orme, which broke Scout rules for expeditions, therefore it should not have gone ahead.

Mr Glaister agreed he had not warned any of the Scouts, including Ben, not to leave the paths up the Orme and he was not aware of the dangers of the cliff edges.

The witness agreed The Scout Association never monitored his activities or ensured any training he was supposed to undergo had ever been done.

The inquest at Manchester Civil Justice Court had heard that Ben could have been saved if he had been given ‘basic’ instructions.

In one of the darkest days in the world famous institution’s 114 year history, it now faces the possibility of being prosecuted over its response to Ben’s tragic death.

Coroner David Pojur has referred the Scout Association and an employee who cannot be named for legal reasons to North Wales Police to be investigated for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

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. 

And the devastating death of Ben is not a standalone case.

Sharon Collins, 60, attended Ben’s inquest almost every day.

Her eldest son Scott, aged 11, fell 60ft down a ravine at Ashworth Valley near Rochdale, during a Scout camp in 1998.

He was taken to hospital but died the same day from a brain injury.

The Chadderton St Herbert’s troop from Oldham had organised for 50 Scouts to spend the weekend at the camp. But just after 7am on the second day, Scott’s mother was woken up by the phone call which would tell her he had fallen.

Untrained helper Peter McPhillips told the inquest at the time that the boy had missed a turning as he led a group of eleven boys onto a path on the side of the ravine.

McPhillips had been at the back of the group, which was a size too big for him to manage by himself.

He couldn’t see that the path had become increasingly narrow when he told Scott to keep walking, shortly before he fell.

Although the coroner ruled that his death was accidental, he called on the Scout Association for more training for their leaders.

Scott’s father, Alan, never recovered from the tragic loss. He took his own life two years later. 

Speaking after the conclusion of Ben’s inquest, his mother told the BBC that ‘nothing had changed’.

When Scott embarked on the Scouts trip he felt ‘excited and felt quite grown up’, she told the news outlet.

But he fell while on the expedition and died in hospital soon after. At the time, a coroner ruled that his death had been ‘accidental’ but recommended the Scout Association conduct safety checks before hikes. 

But his mother said she got ‘snippets of information’ over time which made her question what had really happened.

Speaking to The Sunday Times, she said: ‘When I met Ben’s family, I listened to their tragedy and shared my dreadful experience. I was horrified to learn about the similarities that Ben’s death had with the events surrounding Scott’s and the other boys’ deaths.’

Another young boy who died while on a Scout trip was Roy Thornton, which was also ruled as accidental by a coroner.

The 15-year-old boy from Wembley, London, died in the Alps in 1999 after he slipped and fell.

His mother, Janet Hollands, told The Sunday Times that Ben’s case made her realise she should have taken legal advice when her son died, instead of ‘blindly’ trusting that the Scout organisation ‘wanted to change’.

Roy had gone on a trip with the 3rd Kenton Scouts Explorers group to the Austrian Alps.

Ms Hollands, now 65, had been a Scout leader on the trip at the time, in charge of looking after the younger Cubs.

The group was climbing a section of the 7000ft mountain Jöchelspitze in the Lechtal Valley when she decided the path wasn’t suitable for the Cubs.

The assistant leader Paul Beardmore, who was leading the older group, had never led a group of Scouts before.

As the conditions became windier, he told the children to leave the path and slide down a hilly section.

His mother told The Sunday Times that the boy, a ‘natural leader’, had been first to go but he ‘went over the edge’.

The other boys watched in horror and managed the dig in their heels and stop, ‘literally right by the edge’.

The Austrian Police investigated his death, and Beardmore was found guilty of culpable homicide and given a two-month suspended sentence.

But the assistant leader said he had been failed by more senior Scouts.

The three parents are now calling for a public inquiry into whether the Scouts have the appropriate safeguarding measures in place to do these expeditions and for the organisation to be externally regulated.

David Pojur, the assistant coroner for North Wales who presided over the inquest into Ben’s death, has appealed to Gillian Keengan and David Johnson on their behalf.

Jennie Price, chairwoman of the Scouts’ board of trustees, said after Ben’s inquest: ‘We emphatically refute allegations made in court about any criminal action on behalf of the Scout Association.’

A spokesman for the Scout Association said: ‘Keeping young people safe is our first priority and no death is ever just a statistic. One death is too many.

‘We have learnt from Ben’s tragic death in 2018 and made changes to the risk assessments, safety rules, training and support we give our 145,000 volunteers.

‘We look closely at all incidents to continuously review and improve to ensure we are creating the safest possible environments.’

Another child who died while on a Scout trip was Alan Lock, a six-year-old who was afraid of water.

The young boy, who could not swim, fell into a river and drowned in 2009.

Alan, who suffered from undiagnosed myocarditis – a condition which can cause symptoms similar to a heart attack – was on a guided walk along the River Stour near Sudbury, Suffolk, when he went missing from a group consisting of 18 Beavers and four adults. 

A Scout leader standing on a bridge spotted his shoes poking out of the fast-flowing water and managed to pull him out of the river onto the bank. But despite the group’s desperate efforts to resuscitate Alan he died around four hours later in hospital.

A post-mortem examination revealed that Alan died of drowning, while his myocarditis, which causes an inflammation of the heart muscle, was also cited as a contributory factor in his death.

Pathologist Nat Carey told the inquest that the undiagnosed condition could have caused Alan to faint and fall into the water.

Detective chief inspector Nicholas Bennett revealed how police spent seven hours interviewing the 17 children who had been on the trip with Alan with four adults.

He said: ‘In its entirety it was difficult to create a coherent picture of what happened that night. As they crossed the bridge for the second time one of the leaders noticed a pair of shoes poking out of the water. He rushed down to the water’s edge and pulled Alan from the water.’

The trip was only Alan’s third with the Beaver Scouts and just days before it happened he had pulled out of a day out to the seaside due to his fear of water.

It was heard that a bang which could have been caused by Alan’s fall was heard as the group stood on a bridge over the river.

But his body wasn’t found until 40 minutes later, and – recording an open verdict – Coroner Dr Peter Dean said lessons should be learned from the death.

Scout Association District Commissioner Stephen Dodd told the BBC at the time that the tragedy had led to ‘significant reflection’ and that the frequency of ‘good group management’ procedures such as head counts weren’t as ‘sufficient as they should have been’.