Great Baddow High School fined over Leo Latifi locker death

Leo Latifi died from a severe head injury after hitting his head on a bench as the unit fell

A school has been fined after a nine-year-old boy was killed when an insecurely-fixed locker unit he was climbing on fell over.

Leo Latifi died after hitting his head on a bench as the locker toppled at Great Baddow High School in Chelmsford, Essex in May 2019.

Chelmsford Magistrates' Court heard there "should have been a regular visual inspection" of its fixtures.

The school was fined £16,700 for a health and safety offence.

Leo had been attending an after-school swimming club at the school when he and another child climbed up the locker.

District Judge John Woollard said they were "no doubt larking around... having a good time", but the locker began to fall, and while the other child moved out of the way, Leo was unable to.

He died from a severe head injury, an inquest last year was told.

The jury found the accident was "significantly contributed to by a lack of assessment of a clear and obvious risk due to a locker unit not being re-secured to a solid wall".

St Michael's Primary School created a memorial garden for Leo

Judge Woollard told the court on Thursday it was "one of the most tragic cases I have dealt with in 23 years as a judge".

He said that during 2013 and 2014, the trust that ran the school had carpets in the changing room refitted.

"When they [the carpet contractors] put the lockers back, they didn't do it properly," he said.

Prosecutor Matthew Taylor said there was then "some five-year period [where] no adequate checks" took place.

A mechanical engineering expert found: "Had the locker been securely fixed to the wall, it's highly unlikely it would have tipped forward when the boys climbed up the front."

Leo's parents said he loved making things with Lego

Mark Watson QC, for the school, told the court there was a "frank acceptance... there was a shortcoming" and it had since "put right and addressed the issues of breach in this case, fully and comprehensively".

The school was also ordered to pay costs of £12,000.

After the hearing, Leo's parents Natalie and Eddie Latifi said: "Nothing can bring back our son, Leo, and the amount of money the school has been fined is just a number to us.

"The school will carry on, and the people there will carry on with their lives in just the same way.

"But we can't carry on with our lives in the same way. Our lives changed forever on the day Leo died and they will never be the same again. We carry the loss of him with us every day and it's an unbearable pain.

"We can only hope that the fine the school has to pay will make schools safer for other children."