Scout leader quizzed over safety on fatal Great Orme trip

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

A scout leader has told an inquest into the death of a 16-year-old boy that he would have given "better safety instructions" if he had seen the group before they set off.

Ben Leonard, from Stockport in Greater Manchester, fell 200ft (61m) from Llandudno's Great Orme in August 2018.

The group changed plans when their trip to Yr Wyddfa, also called Snowdon, was scrapped because of poor weather.

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

Ben sustained head injuries when he fell while trying to make his way down a steep cliff face after becoming separated from the main group.

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Sean Glaister was the senior leader of Reddish Explorer Scouts when the group travelled to Wales on the August bank holiday weekend for a two-day trip.

He told the inquest he had been parking his car when he learned the group had begun walking up the Orme with two assistant leaders.

Asked why he did not give everyone the "clearest possible" safety instructions, he said the group had already left.

"If I'd known they were going there I'd have given better instructions than I did," he said.

He added that he was "100% certain" Brian Garraway, a scout training advisor, was staying in a holiday cottage in Llandudno on that weekend and would be the qualified first aider in case of an emergency, but he was actually in the Lake District at the time.

Ben had decided to take another route up the Great Orme, resulting in him slipping off a narrow ledge

Mr Glaister said that did not comply with Scout Association rules on having a registered first aider on the camp, but he was satisfied his own training was sufficient, even though his certificate expired seven months earlier.

Mr Glaister said he had been advised by his then-lawyer before the first inquest to airbrush any mention of Mr Garraway out of his evidence, but denied lying in his evidence or statements.

The jury heard that Ben had recently had an operation before going on the trip, but Mr Glaister said the teen "said he was feeling OK and wanted to go".

While on the Great Orme, Mr Glaister he said left a message on Ben's phone when he learned he and two other scouts were not with the main group.

Soon after, he had a call from one of them to say Ben had had an accident.

"In hindsight there's a couple of things I'd change... I have to live with myself every day," he said.

The inquest in Manchester continues.