Scouts made no contact with teen after boy's death, inquest told

Ben, from Greater Manchester, had been with two friends when they broke away from the rest of the group

A former scout whose friend fell to his death during a hike has told an inquest no-one from the Scout Association ever spoke to him about the tragedy.

Ben Leonard, 16, dropped 200ft (61m) from Llandudno's Great Orme in August 2018 while on a two-day trip.

Alex Jamieson, now 20, said the organisation never contacted him about it in the intervening years.

Scout leaders have already accepted responsibility for Ben's death.

An inquest in Manchester into the teen's death also heard the hike had been unplanned and no guidance given to scouts beforehand.

• Scout would be alive if walk was planned - inquest

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Mr Jamieson was questioned by the lawyer for Ben's family about what happened after the incident in terms of contact with scouts.

Bernard Richmond KC asked: "Did anyone ask you what had happened?"

Mr Jamieson said: "No."

Asked by the lawyer whether "anyone from Scouts [contacted] you?", Mr Jamieson replied: "No."

"No-one ever said anything to you, to ask about what was done or not done by the leaders?", Mr Richmond asked.

"No," said Mr Jamieson.

Ben was walking on the Great Orme when he fell to his death

The former scout said he was "angry" about Ben's death, and said he agreed that it was was the fault of the three leaders on the hike.

He said agreed that had they been told not to go near the rocks, they wouldn't have.

Ben, from Stockport in Greater Manchester, had been with two friends when they walked away from the rest of the Explorer Scouts group to follow a different route.

Mr Jamieson, who was one of the three, told the inquest they had made their way along the promenade and into the Happy Valley gardens at the bottom of the Orme.  

But he said they lost sight of the others - among whom were three scout leaders - and turned through a gate onto rockier, steeper terrain.

He said they had "explored the area", which included "a drop" to the right down to a road and the sea.

At this point Ben "went down a little bit" and shouted to them that he had seen a way down, but he and the other boy had "opted not to go".

"We said we'd see him down there and retraced our route down to the road," said Mr Jamieson, adding that by the time they got there Ben was being tended to by a member of the public who had witnessed his fall.

Mr Jamieson agreed with Mr Richmond that the leaders had "catastrophically failed" to protect their charges.  

They had not been given a briefing in advance of the hike, nor a map or any warnings about where to go or what to avoid, he said.

Scout leaders have already accepted responsibility for Ben's death.

The plan had originally been for the scouts to climb Yr Wyddfa, also known as Snowdon, but it was called off due to bad weather.

The inquest continues.