Bereaved families demand Scouts watchdog

The mum of a 16-year-old boy who fell to his death on a Scout trip has joined other grieving families to demand the organisation is made safer.

Ben Leonard was among a group visiting Llandudno's Great Orme when he fell 200ft (60m) from cliffs.

His mother Jackie said the organisation should overseen by an outside regulator and has joined up with the families of Lee Craddock, Scott Fanning and Roy Thornton - who died on Scout trips in the 1990s - to call for a public inquiry.

The Scouts Association said: "Keeping young people safe is our top priority."

An inquest jury found a leader and his assistant responsible for Ben's unlawful killing and neglect by the Scout Association contributed.

Ben was on a three-day expedition with the Reddish Explorer Scouts from Stockport, Greater Manchester, in August 2018 when he died.

Ms Leonard, 54, said: "The impact is devastating on the whole family.

"We don't want to see Scouts abolished or anything like that, because there are a lot of good people in Scouting doing good work and a lot of children that get enjoyment from it.

"My Ben enjoyed it, but it needs to be made safe and that's why we just want to see them regulated by an outside body, like schools and other activity centres."

Ms Leonard - whose other son Thomas, 26, was also a Scout - remembers receiving a phone call from the Scout leader on the day Ben died.

"He rang me and said Ben had had a fall and at first I just thought 'oh, he's twisted his ankle' or done something like that you know," she said.

"Then he said the ambulance is there and they are working on him. And straight away, those words were just like, 'oh my God'.

"For about an hour we didn't know what was happening and we couldn't leave because we'd been told they might be taking him somewhere by air ambulance.

"Then about an hour later the police knocked on the door."

Ms Leonard said it felt like it was "about damage limitation" for the Scouts after Ben's death.

"They say their number one priority is child safety and they have now been found to have failed at it."

After the inquest, the Scouts said in a statement that it "emphatically" refuted any allegations made in court "about any criminal action" on its behalf.

The Scouts Association is self-governing with regulatory oversight by the Charity Commission but there is no independent body that periodically audits and inspects its systems, processes and training.

The Scouts Association said: "We look closely at all incidents to ensure we are creating the safest possible environments for the thousands of young people who take part in Scouts every year.

"We are closely reviewing the coroner's recommendations and will adopt all further changes we can to prevent such a tragic event happening again."